Hollywood Hires Private Investigators To Root Out Racist Past Posts From Celebrity Newcomers

(Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP, File)
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FILE – In this Feb. 21, 2015 file photo, an Oscar statue appears outside the Dolby Theatre for the 87th Academy Awards in Los Angeles. The diversity crisis in Hollywood may rage on, but the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is trying to open up access to the entertainment business for people from underrepresented communities. Academy Gold, an inclusive film academy internship program that just wrapped its second summer, helps students learn the ropes of the entertainment business and get a foot in the door before college graduation. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP, File)
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The cultural guillotines are beginning to drop left and right and it looks like Hollywood is trying to get ahead of the bloody game by outing their own players before someone else can do it for them.

In recent weeks, Bravo – a reality show power player led by Andy Cohen – has fired several stars after their social media feeds were discovered to contain what the network describes as racist posts. Page Six reports that the popular show “Vanderpump Rules” had to let go of two stars but it isn’t just Bravo…the axe is dropping all around town.

The move comes after a spate of celebrities were recently fired over resurfaced racist posts. Last week, Bravo fired “Vanderpump Rules” stars Brett Caprioni and Max Boyens for offensive tweets, and on Wednesday the network canned “Below Deck Mediterranean” star Peter Hunziker for a racist Instagram post. Meanwhile, the CW fired Hartley Sawyer from “The Flash,” and MTV let go “Teen Mom’s” Taylor Selfridge for similar offenses (although Selfridge claims she quit).

Now comes word that some Hollywood studios are hiring private investigators to comb through the public utterances of current and upcoming stars to root out any future surprises.

Now we’re told that several networks have hired California-based firm Edward Myers & Associates in an attempt to root out offensive posts from on-air and production talent before they’re made public and embarrass their bosses.

According to sources, letters have gone out to stars alerting them that the firm, run by Myers — who has worked as an investigator for LA County’s “hardcore gang division,” which handles the most difficult gang murders, and for Jeff Bezos’ private security chief, Gavin de Becker — will begin its probe soon.

On his Web site, Myers describes himself as an “investigation and risk assessment specialist” and offers services such as “surveillance and counter-surveillance,” as well as “intelligence gathering.”

Myers may be probing some TV classics, including “Dating Naked,” “Jersey Shore,” “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” “Teen Mom,” “Game On,” “Vice” and “Love & Hip Hop.” No word on whether CBS’s “Magnum, PI” is among those being vetted.

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The standard of personal perfection this is setting up is alarming. In fact, we may see some sort of residual rollback of social media and its importance when it comes to young Hollywood. The issue here isn’t the current “witch hunt” nature of problem, the issue is that we’ve redefined the word “racism” to the point of nearly having no meaning whatsoever. Some people (not all, but some) are only being insensitive or ignorant, not blatantly racist. As a fan of trashy reality tv I know it is ignorance and egotistical insensitivity that makes for fascinating television. I’m not tuning in to the “Real Housewives” franchise because I want to see the boring lives of good people. If people aren’t allowed to make mistakes or even be offensive at times, there is no entertainment value. Not just that, we don’t get to see anyone overcome or be better versions of themselves. We are only left with their failures and failure is often not the end of the story. Any good story has an arc but if the “bend” is simply erased then so is the arc altogether, and then so is the story.

Perhaps Hollywood will just ‘woke’ themselves right out of being one of the most powerful industries in the world. We’ll see. Until then, get a social media deleting service for your kids. For a small monthly fee you can set them to only keep the content of the last year or two years or five years or whatever you decide. It looks like the progressives are going to make it as hard as possible for your kids to ever mature, so give them as much privacy as you can in our digital age.

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