Star Wars Actor Riz Ahmed Warns Entertainment Industry Lack Of Diversity Leads To Extremism

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story actor Riz Ahmed is sending a message to the entertainment industry, warning entertainment providers and workers against the lack of diversity in films and television. Though the industry's been making efforts to add have more people of color take the lead and star in different movies and series, the industry continues to be plagued by problems like whitewashing and lack of LGBT representation.

According to a report by The Guardian, Ahmed spoke during Channel 4's annual diversity lecture at the British Parliament and how important it is for the entertainment industry to properly represent the different minorities.

The Star Wars star explained the lack of minority representation in the big and small screen could lead lead people from minority backgrounds to "switch off and retreat to fringe narratives, to bubbles online and sometimes even off to Syria."

"If we fail to represent, we are in danger of losing people to extremism," he said.

"In the mind of the Isis recruit, he's the next James Bond right? Have you seen some of those Isis propaganda videos, they are cut like action movies. Where is the counter narrative? Where are we telling these kids they can be heroes in our stories, that they valued?"

"People are looking for the message that they belong, that they are part of something, that they are seen and heard and that despite, or perhaps because of, their experience, they are valued. They want to feel represented. In that task we have failed."

He added: "If we don't step up and tell a representative story … we are going to start losing British teenagers to the story that the next chapter in their lives is written with Isis in Syria. We are going to see the murder of more MPs like Jo Cox because we've been mis-sold a story that is so narrow about who we are and who we should be."

Ahmed is definitely right. Representation is a message that people matter – and though the entertainment industry has been trying, it definitely hasn't been trying hard enough. Hopefully things change faster for everyone.

Read: How It Should Have Ended Makes Fun of Rogue One