Renowned actor Denzel Washington allegedly turned down a film role for which he was supposed to get $200 million due to his aversion to “woke culture”. Unbelievable? Yes, because it is fake news.
“Denzel Washington Turned Down $200 Million Disney Role. Announced He Will Not Be Participating in 'Woke Cultural',” one user wrote on website X at the beginning of December (original spelling). The entry generated over 140,000. views, it was retweeted almost 700 times. The author of the post added with appreciation: “Mr. Actor. Outstanding. Not only on the big screen.”
But there were many more entries with a similar message in Polish social media in December – both on X and on Facebook. One of the posts on the second platform collected approximately 45,000. reactions and over 2.3 thousand comments. It has been shared almost 2,000 times. times.
Misleading posts about Denzel Washington and his rejection of a role due to woke culturex.com, Facebook
Under the above-mentioned entry on “The basic social unit is the family, and the family is a woman and a man”; “Enough of this leftist ideology that destroys humanity. Great respect for this great actor.”
What does “woke” mean?
First, let's define what “woke” means.
As reported by “The Economist“, the word “woke” comes from black slang from the United States, however, it has lost its original meaning. The term “woke” – that is, “awakened” – originally meant a person who is well-informed, up to date, aware of what is happening around him. The phrase “stay woke” was first used by singer Huddie William Ledbetter, known as Lead Belly. He is the author of the song “Sctottsboro Boys”, which tells the story of nine black boys and young men wrongly accused of raping two white women. In the first trial in 1931 in Alabama, eight of them were sentenced to death.
Lead Belly sings about young men and also respects the black community. He advises them to “better stay awake” (original: “best stay awake”) and to keep their eyes open and stay alert.
These words subsequently appeared in The New York Times, v text from 1962 by William Melvin Kelley, an African-American writer. He wrote about slang used by black people.
“Stay woke” gained popularity with the development of the Black Lives Matter movement, a social movement for the rights of black people developing in the United States after 2013, when George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch member, was acquitted. In February 2012, he killed unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin while on patrol.
However, with the spread of the term “woke” on social media, the process of changing the meaning of this slogan began. The scope of meaning has been expanded. “Woke” came to be used to describe a person who is aware of social crises related to homophobia, racism, sexism and other forms of exclusion, as well as to describe a person who responds to these crises. In addition, the word has acquired a political meaning – it is used as an insult. As he writes ABC News“the definition of 'woke' changes depending on who you ask.” “Woke”, i.e. conscious and responsive – this is understood by members of left-wing and progressive parties. For conservatives, it is an umbrella term for progressive values ​​that you feel negatively about. Many representatives of the right talk about “rejecting the woke ideology.”
People who describe themselves as “anti-woke” – politicians or right-wing activists – are people who oppose the alleged aversion or even hatred towards traditional values ​​that people with left-wing views have.
Source: satirical website. The actor's agent denies this
Reports about Denzel Washington's rejection of the role due to “woke culture” have already been analyzed by a number of portals. among others Snopes, Reutersand in Poland Demagogue and TVP Info. The source of the online entries is the text published on November 17 on the website Zapon. This is a satirical website. The “about us” description contains the following information: “nothing on this website is true” (editor's translation). There is also a warning under the text about the American actor: “This is not true. This is satire” (editor's translation).
As we checked in the database who.isthe website was registered in late August 2024, but only started publishing in late November. So far, over a hundred texts have been published there. A number of them include reports of American movie stars allegedly turning down roles due to their opposition to “woke”. Publications of this type are not new on the Internet. In the summer of 2023 Internet users got excited Denzel Washington's alleged rejection of a role in a $50 million film project. And in 2024, Elon Musk (CEO of Tesla, owner of website which was also not true.
READ ON KONKRET24: Musk, Gibson and Wahlberg starting an anti-oke film studio? Actors translate
In the fake news discussed now, the rate that Denzel Washington was supposed to receive from Disney is absurdly high. According to Forbes, in 2023 for all the roles Washington played, obtained $24 million. This gave him 10th place on the list of Hollywood's highest-paid actors. Adam Sandler was supposed to earn the most – $73 million.
Reuters reported that it contacted the American actor's agent – who briefly stated that the information about rejecting the role for $200 million was “not true”.