Dear Laura Osnes, shall we have a conversation about privilege?

BROADWAY, NEW YORK CITY - Last week, renowned theatre actress Laura Osnes was dropped from a one-night show on Broadway for being unvaccinated by choice. It is largely understood that she will not be returning to New York stages anytime soon given that all of Broadway has mandated that only vaccinated performers may return to their jobs once live theatre resumes in September.

Many of us reacted with sentiments of vigilantism. Good riddance, right? Imagine being this misinformed and selfishly ignorant after so many have succumbed to COVID-19. However, rather than joining in the chorus of people focusing on that one single cancellation of a white performer, perhaps its time we looked at all of actors and actresses who have lost gigs for reasons too trivial to even list.

Let's face it, Black and AAPI performers have been cancelled from the entire industry for far less.

The fact that she is still a multimillionaire actress despite her various affiliations, with a church that promotes homophobic views for example, reeks with the stench of privilege. The fact that so many  actors of the global majority (how I love that term) had to go before she did - I have to ask, what is wrong with people? She had gotten a free pass thus far because oh, she is an individual, she makes her own choices, she is not representative of her community. That's the issue. There's the privilege.

The right to be treated as an individual.

There is nothing new about this. Non-"majority" actors are being held accountable for who they represent, as if we are responsible for representing a community, whereas "majority" actors are not affiliated to any cause simply because no one is pigeonholing them into one. You have heard of them as so many others have before. Are they true? No, not always, and sometimes, not at all! Stereotypes are called stereotypes for a reason. They are statistically inaccurate observations which have been misconstrued as facts. They are not facts, they have never been and will never be factual. No one human population can be characterized by a single character trait, for the very simple reason that we are entitled to our right to individuality, and the right to be treated as such.

Until performers of the global majority are no longer being arbitrarily dropped from shows and sets for the same reasons that are habitually forgiven in "majority" actors on the basis of "individual freedoms and the benefit of doubt", there is a box that every non-"majority" actor has been forced into. This box contains irrational hatred and illogical generalizations of every sort. It is up to the entire industry to recognize that we are individuals, that we do not come prepackaged with the mistruths that have been propagated by ignorance about our community, that just because we are visual representations of our community does not mean that we do not have the right to individuality, and the right to be treated as a unique individual.

Individualism is currently a privilege that Laura Osnes has enjoyed until now. Perhaps it is time we extended that basic human right to every other performer too. Yes, I am angry at her decision to endanger her fellow actors. But more than that, it's time we took a step back and examined the processes that have protected her all this while. And it's time we rectified the intrinsic injustice of those processes, which have blindsided the rights of so many others who have not had the privilege of being treated as an individual.