Napoleon Dynamite director Jared Hess fears racism is behind the Utah State Fair Board’s decision to pull his television spots, which feature a black singer celebrating the sensual wonders of the fair.
Fair board members say the 2010 television spots which had earned a worldwide audience on YouTube were too suggestive and reached the wrong “demographics.” On Friday afternoon, the commercials were pulled from the fair’s website.
Hess points out that the board didn’t pull the radio ads, which contain the audio from the television spots. “They’re identical, but you can’t see the actor. You do the math,” the filmmaker said to the Salt Lake Tribune.
Hess continues, “It’s very strange. The spots celebrate the iconic things you can only find at the State Fair. I can’t help but think that the main actor being African-American is the reason they pulled them–which is very disturbing.”
Let’s just call it what it is. It’s outright racism. They pulled the ads out because the guy was black. What else could you call it? It’s not Jared’s fault, he just made the darn thing. C’mon Utah, let’s have a little more class but nice try for attempting to go the “it wasn’t the correct demographics” way.