Swag racism in Park City
Premiere.com's Glenn Kenny reported yesterday afternoon about an ugly racial incident that happened to Sleep Dealer director Alex Rivera and his two stars, Luis Fernando Perla and Leonor Varela. The setting was one of the Main Street photo shoot/swag houses. Accompanied by Falco Ink's Steve Beeman, they had an hour to kill after posing for photographs and decided to visit the upstairs swag suite. Perla and Varela were ushered in but Rivera was blocked at the door. "No directors," he was told.
Beeman, understandably offended, told the swag girls that the Sleep Dealer trio "can buy their own t-shirts, they're merely looking for a place to hang, they haven't seen each other in over a year since the shooting, and so on. A brief consultation among swagmasters leads to the director's entry into the hallowed sanctum. [But ] Rivera soon noticed that one of the room's female attendants was dogging his every step.
"Are you following me?" Rivera asked.
"Yes," she said.
"Could you stop?"
"No. You might steal something."
I can believe that a swag girl might conjure a paranoid fantasy of a Latino artist pocketing an item. Standard U.S. of A. racism. But it's hard to believe that she would be so stupid and cloddish as to actually say the words "you might steal something." Are we sure she didn't say something more along the lines of "we're just being careful" or...you know, something allusive instead of blunt?
Note: Kenny doesn't identify the players by name in his piece. I was given the lowdown last night after a showing of Patti Smith: Dream of Life.
Followup: In a world of my own devising an organized demonstration would be held outside the photo shoot/swag sometime late this afternoon. The chant could be something along the lines of "Hey hey, ho ho, swag racists have to go!" An all-media advisory would be sent out this morning. The usual pitchforks and torches would be handed out of the back of a pickup truck on Swede Alley 30 minutes prior to the start of the demonstration. Flyers with a photo of swag girl who uttered the racist remark would be wild-posted all over town alongside a slogan that reads, "Who are we? Does Barack Obama have reason to be concerned?"
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on January 21, 2008 at 7:11 AM
comment #1
Mike Ock
says ...
I head she asked Rivera, "What's the secret to making the perfect enchilada?"
Posted by Mike Ock
at January 21, 2008 7:45 AM
comment #2
Josh Massey
says ...
She should have acted like people in Hollywood do - ask him to stack boxes in the back, sweep up, and see her for a couple bucks on his way out.
Posted by Josh Massey
at January 21, 2008 7:53 AM
comment #3
le corbeau
says ...
"Director" is a race?
Posted by le corbeau
at January 21, 2008 7:54 AM
comment #4
corey3rd
says ...
This is just so f'n lame. Time to throw the Swag Dealers out of the Temple to save the soul of Sundance. These Swag whores won't stop Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian from bagging their crap, but when someone who belongs at Sundance enters the room, it's make sure they don't steal anything.
This is BS and if Gilmore & Redford don't make a big deal about this situation they ought to be ashamed of themselves.
Posted by corey3rd
at January 21, 2008 8:06 AM
comment #5
MickTravis
says ...
If this is a case of racism, why where the actors "ushered in" without any problem? Sounds like any director of any race would've had a problem in that bizarro-bullshit situation.
(btw: aren't incidents "reported" rather than "reported about")
Posted by MickTravis
at January 21, 2008 8:24 AM
comment #6
MickTravis
says ...
Any time I openly quibble about a problem of grammar, you can be damn sure I'm going to misspell a word like "were" and/or leave out a question mark.
Posted by MickTravis
at January 21, 2008 8:27 AM
comment #7
BurmaShave
says ...
Yeah I like to think this was because he was a Director, not a Latino. Directors steal from each other all the time.
Posted by BurmaShave
at January 21, 2008 9:02 AM
comment #8
corey3rd
says ...
is the IRS on the scene making sure these "stars" report all the swag the collect?
Posted by corey3rd
at January 21, 2008 9:11 AM
comment #9
Gaydos
says ...
Alert! There's no D.Z. comment about Tarantino here. Is he ok?
Posted by Gaydos
at January 21, 2008 9:22 AM
comment #10
Cadavra
says ...
Waiddaminute, this doesn't make sense. Aren't the two actors Latino also? So why would she let THEM in?
Posted by Cadavra
at January 21, 2008 10:01 AM
comment #11
Walter Sobchak
says ...
The entire festival should be shut down and ended. It should resume next year as the "Sundance Latino Film Efestival" and it should only showcase films that deal with the day to day discrimination that Latinos face in this "land of the free".
Of course this will accomplish nothing substantive, but it will help allay some of my white guilt, which is really what's important.
Posted by Walter Sobchak
at January 21, 2008 10:14 AM
comment #12
Mr. Muckle
says ...
Nail on the head, BurmaShave!
Posted by Mr. Muckle
at January 21, 2008 12:55 PM
comment #13
lindenen
says ...
I don't know what was going on in this incident, but Alex Rivera looks like he could be my Irish uncle. Hopefully, the link works. Otherwise you can do what I did and Google him.
http://www.wireimage.com/GalleryListing.asp?nbc1=1&navtyp=CAL====300352&ym=200801
Posted by lindenen
at January 21, 2008 5:30 PM
comment #14
alex301
says ...
Pardon my ignorance but wtf is a swag house/girl?
Posted by alex301
at January 21, 2008 7:23 PM
comment #15
kily2008
says ...
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Posted by kily2008
at January 23, 2008 10:10 AM