The F9 star said he lost out on a lot of roles to his Four Brothers co-star Terrence Howard because of colorism.
Gibson talked all about it during a recent interview with Leah’s Lemonade.
“Throughout my whole childhood, it was not cool to be dark-skinned in the hood,” he said. “It was always light-skinned Black people who seemed to get all the attention, all the love, and were considered pretty or handsome.”
“Since I’ve been in Hollywood, we’ve dealt with the same thing,” Gibson continued.
“I just did a film with Terrence Howard, and you know we’re able to joke about it now, [but] I was the star of a film. They had an idea to go with someone I won’t mention, and I suggested Terrence Howard,” he added.
“And he thanked me for like a week straight…he was thanking me for booking him. And I was thinking to myself, Terrence Howard has no idea how many roles that I was about to book, and they went with him because he’s the lighter-skinned Black man with green eyes.”
“It’s crazy to me; like, I’m number one. I’m the star. I’m this blue-black, you know, all of the things that I was laughed about in the ‘hood,'” he added.
Gibson said the whole experience made him view his career differently. However, he praises actors like Lupita Nyong’o and Viola Davis who are changing the game.
“This shift has happened. I think we should all stay humble because it’s interesting how white people created this kind of colorism,” Gibson shared.
“The mixed-race gets to be in the house, and the black blacks get to work in the hot sun and pick cotton.”
I hope that Hollywood casting directors are paying attention to what Gibson has to say. You can watch his full interview with Leah’s Lemonade below:
