With DEI under attack, David Oyelowo calls out Hollywood's 'performative' politics

David and Jessica Oyelowo deterioration galore hats — spouses, parents, actors, producers, directors, writers — and much often than not, they are filling these roles successful tandem. But supra all, the Oyelowos are storytellers. And done their accumulation company, Yoruba Saxon, they anticipation to usage the stories they archer to make empathy successful the world, placing marginalized radical astatine the epicenter of the universes they create.

“David coined this phrase, ‘normalizing the marginalized,’” Jessica explains erstwhile we chat connected a video telephone successful April, sitting adjacent to David successful their Southern California home. “Making radical the protagonist of their ain stories wherever they’re afloat human, afloat realized and beauteous and analyzable and hard and wonderful, due to the fact that those were not the kinds of roles that were disposable to us.”

The couple, who met arsenic teenagers portion performing successful younker theatre successful England and got joined successful their aboriginal 20s, recovered it hard to interruption into the TV manufacture there.

“I’m going to beryllium cautious with what I say, but it was truly hard for us, peculiarly for David, to beryllium capable to get the things we wanted made,” says Jessica.

David interjects with a much blunt assessment: “I’ll beryllium little cautious than Jess and accidental that we similar our racism and misogyny acold and successful our face. That is surely 1 of the beauties of surviving successful America. It’s precise obvious. The U.K. is world-class astatine couching those elements successful nicety, the people strategy …”

“Colonization. ‘We’re coming to assistance you,’” adds Jess.

David Oyelowo successful “Government Cheese,” a surrealist household drama acceptable successful the San Fernando Valley successful the 1960s.

(Apple TV+)

Upon moving to the U.S. successful 2007, they recovered that roles for Black men successful movie and TV often were constricted to cause dealers and criminals, slaves and servants. As for women, Jessica remembers a quality statement calling for a pistillate with “perky t— and a level stomach.”

“I really took that audition conscionable truthful I could archer the manager however disgusting it was,” says Jessica. “Then helium wanted to springiness maine the job! I was like, ‘No, are you crazy?’”

She continues, “I’m truthful overmuch much than a smart, sexy thing and he’s truthful overmuch much than the stereotypical roles that were being offered to Black men astatine the time.”

As the mates continued raising their 4 children and focusing connected their careers, they decided to make the roles they were looking for themselves. In 2014, they founded their accumulation company. “We didn’t acceptable retired to beryllium producers,” David says. “Necessity was decidedly the parent of invention. I can’t hold astir for idiosyncratic other to marque the things, the likes of which we privation to beryllium successful and spot successful the world. We person to usage immoderate platform, notoriety, endowment and connections we person to bash it ourselves.”

Jessica and David Oyelowo. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

The company’s sanction melds their 2 cultures — David is of Yoruba and Igbo descent, and Jessica is Anglo-Saxon. The institution presently has a squad of 7 people, including the Oyelowos, and the brace credits that squad for their successes. Together they’ve developed projects similar Paramount+ bid “Lawmen: Bass Reeves”; David’s directorial debut, “The Water Man”; and Jessica’s documentary “Becoming King.” On April 16, Apple TV+ premiered the 10-episode bid “Government Cheese,” successful which David stars — portion of Yoruba Saxon’s first-look woody with the platform.

Set successful the San Fernando Valley successful the precocious 1960s, the series, created by Paul Hunter and Aeysha Carr, features David arsenic the zany, faith-driven Hampton Chambers, recently released from situation and determined to merchantability his self-sharpening drill to an aerospace institution portion besides trying to triumph backmost the respect of his woman and 2 sons.

“It’s parabolic, absurdist, quirky household comedy, and you could spot a satellite successful which a web oregon workplace whitethorn think, ‘Let’s marque it grounded.’ But that’s not what we acceptable retired to do,” David says of the series’ surreal sensibility.

“Why can’t we bash worldly the likes of Wes Anderson oregon Spike Jonze oregon Paul Thomas Anderson?” helium continues. “We emotion watching that stuff. We ne'er get to beryllium successful that stuff. We ne'er spot ourselves represented successful that stuff. Why can’t we beryllium expansive successful our storytelling?”

“We didn’t acceptable retired to beryllium producers,” David Oyelowo says, but “I can’t hold astir for idiosyncratic other to marque the things, the likes of which we privation to beryllium successful and spot successful the world.”

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

“‘Government Cheese’ is 1 of the astir unthinkable examples of joyousness successful normalizing the marginalized,” says Jessica. “When you’ve got a Black household successful Los Angeles successful the 1960s and it has thing to bash with civilian rights, it has thing to bash with oppression.”

“They’re governmental acts,” adds David. “When truthful overmuch of what you spot implicit the ’60s erstwhile it comes to Blackness is struggle, it’s extremist to spot joyousness and to beryllium capable to laughter and for it to beryllium surreal.”

I bring up the caller “Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun,” by British Nigerian writer Tọlá Okogwu. It’s a middle-grade subject fabrication publication astir a young miss with psychokinetic powers that has turned into a four-book series. Yoruba Saxon and Will Smith’s Westbrook Studios partnered with Netflix to accommodate the publication into a film.

“‘Onyeka’ is an implicit bull’s-eye for what we are looking to make, but it is besides symptomatic of the situation we have,” says David. “We gained traction with that task successful the aftermath of the George Floyd execution and successful a infinitesimal wherever determination was a taste correction and radical seemed to privation to bash better. But present we’re successful a infinitesimal wherever it’s evident that a batch of that was performative and not bone-deep. Projects similar that abruptly go challenged. ‘Onyeka’ being one, ‘Return of the Rocketeer’ astatine Disney being another.”

And portion the existent governmental clime whitethorn enactment immoderate of their stories astatine risk, it doesn’t alteration the mode they volition archer those stories. In fact, it energizes them further.

As David says, “Attack connected DEI oregon not, we’ve been doing it earlier determination was each this vigor astir it and we volition beryllium doing it after.”