In recent weeks, Hollywood and the arts world in general seem to have lost their minds, starting with streaming service HBO Max pulling “Gone With The Wind”  — and in just the past few days,  as my colleague Jeff Charles wrote, country band The Dixie Chicks changing their name to “The Chicks,” which I agree will surely “end racism forever.”

Now, the trend – which I’m dubbing “pre-emptive self-canceling” – has apparently gone into overdrive, A whole slew of creative people are jumping off the cliff, removing themselves from their jobs for some alleged, race-related transgression, before someone does it for them.

It includes everything from authors who aren’t allowed to create fictional characters… because they’re of a different race…

Destroy yourselves https://t.co/mGNKWpUqMj

— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) June 27, 2020

To voice actors who can’t perform anymore, because they aren’t the same race as the made-up, cartoon characters they portray:

This is a time to acknowledge our acts of complicity. Heres 1 of mine. Playing the Molly in Central Park shows a lack of awareness of my pervasive privilege. Casting a mixed race character w/a white actress undermines the specificity of the mixed race & Black American experience. pic.twitter.com/8AL8m4K7Uk

— Kristen Bell (@KristenBell) June 25, 2020

There’s been a rash of these, with the most recent and best-known example coming Friday evening:

It’s been an honor to play Cleveland on Family Guy for 20 years. I love this character, but persons of color should play characters of color. Therefore, I will be stepping down from the role. pic.twitter.com/FmKasWITKT

— Mike Henry (@mikehenrybro) June 26, 2020

You read that correctly. Mike Henry’s played Cleveland, the “Family Guy” and “The Cleveland Show” character, for 20 YEARS. But only now, for some unknown reason, it’s raaaaacist. Friday also brought word that the producers of Fox’s iconic show, “The Simpsons,” will no longer cast non-white actors to voice black or other POC characters, according to the NY Post. Not missing a juicy story, our sister publication Twitchy caught it, too, of course.

At this point, it’s practically beyond parody:

BREAKING: Tom Kenny has said he will step down from voicing Spongebob so that real sea sponges can voice sponge cartoon characters.

— Matt Dawson (@SaintRPh) June 27, 2020

Now, actor Johnathon Schaech has shared on social media that he’s sorry for playing what the SJWs call a BIPOC (black, indigenous, person of color) — and in a lengthy thread that begins in the post below, he begs fellow actor Olivia Munn for a chance to “explain” himself:

He writes:

“I played a BIPOC role. My character Julian kept a dark secret that he thought would destroy his life. He gave up his family and passed as a white man for business purposes. I asked and questioned why I got the role @oliviamunn

Please ask me why I played the role? I’ll explain”

I played a BIPOC role. My character Julian kept a dark secret that he thought would destroy his life. He gave up his family and passed as a white man for business purposes. I asked and questioned why I got the role @oliviamunn
Please ask me why I played the role? I’ll explain.🙏 https://t.co/F6hNPvOSBz

— John-a-thon Schaech (@JohnSchaech) June 27, 2020

You can see, at the end, the self-ingratiating “praying” emoji.

Luckily, not everyone in Hollywood expects actors like Schaech to grovel. Actor Dean Cain, with just six words, takes care of the whole issue:

He writes: (emphasis mine)

“You shouldn’t have to explain. It’s your job. Actors pretend to be other people… this is ridiculous.”

You shouldn’t have to explain. It’s your job. Actors pretend to be other people… this is ridiculous. https://t.co/uN5s2XIAXd

— Dean Cain (@RealDeanCain) June 27, 2020

But a commenter makes a solid point about Cain’s own, potential “appropriation” problem… by playing “Superman” in “Lois & Clark.”

They wrote:

“Just wait until the woke mob finds out that
@RealDeanCain isn’t actually from planet Krypton.

Shame on you Dean, for taking that role from an E.T.”

Just wait until the woke mob finds out that @RealDeanCain isn’t actually from planet Krypton.

Shame on you Dean, for taking that role from an E.T. https://t.co/odkYnJtV1Y

— Jake Coco 💙🎶🇺🇸 (@jakecoco) June 27, 2020

For shame.

UPDATE: This rightly goes here…