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NEW: The show 'Schitt's Creek' won raves for its msgs of inclusivity. But some viewers took issue with its depiction of Ray, the town's bumbling jack of all trades, saying he was a rehash of the stereotypical emasculated South Asian male with an accent. https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2020/12/29/how-a-schitts-creek-character-stirred-debate-about-actors-faking-accents-and-hollywoods-diversity.html
The debate among actors of colour over faking accents is fraught. Some won't do it citing the history of Hollywood playing up accents for laughs. Others see no harm if the accent's not the butt of a joke and in keeping with a character's backstory. https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2020/12/29/how-a-schitts-creek-character-stirred-debate-about-actors-faking-accents-and-hollywoods-diversity.html
Rizwan Manji, the Toronto native who plays Ray, says when he started in the biz he was pigeonholed into 'offensive' parts where the joke was on the accent. But in 'Schitt's,' he was not given any direction as to how Ray should sound and has no regrets. https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2020/12/29/how-a-schitts-creek-character-stirred-debate-about-actors-faking-accents-and-hollywoods-diversity.html
Rather than focus on accents, he said, critics could ask why his character didn’t have a more fully developed story, like a relationship or a family. “If you want to criticize something, do that,” he said. “We need to have three-dimensional characters.” https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2020/12/29/how-a-schitts-creek-character-stirred-debate-about-actors-faking-accents-and-hollywoods-diversity.html
Industry observers say there is growing recognition to avoid typecasting and invest in fully developed characters. It's not acceptable to have characters with accents "just because." But there's still a lot of work to improve diversity/representation. https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2020/12/29/how-a-schitts-creek-character-stirred-debate-about-actors-faking-accents-and-hollywoods-diversity.html
