The Washington Post
General Motors was under fire this weekend after a casting call for Cadillac sought members of the controversial alt-right movement.
According to an image of the casting call posted by the news agency Reuters and many, many others, the notice said an agency filming the ad was looking for “any and all real alt-right thinkers/believers.”
“This is a beautifully artistic spot that is capturing all walks of life of America,” the casting call says, adding that it would be filmed later this month. “Standing together as a union. This is not meant to be offensive in anyway. Just a representation of all sides. Thank you.”
The alt-right, or alternative right, is an extremist movement that seeks a whites-only state.
The casting notice, circulated on Twitter and Facebook, said an agency was looking for men and women of all ethnicities between ages 20 and 40.
Cadillac tried to quell the criticism with postings on Twitter and on its Facebook page: “Cadillac did not authorize or approve a casting notice for an ‘alt-right (neo-nazi)’ role in a commercial. We unequivocally condemn the notice and are seeking immediate answers from our creative agency, production company and any casting companies involved.”
— Cadillac (@Cadillac) December 10, 2016
But even that statement garnered dozens of negative comments on Cadillac’s Facebook page.
The Cast Station, a TV and film commercial casting company that seeks actors in several major cities, said on Facebook that the casting call was a mistake.
“The notice was drafted by an employee, who was immediately terminated for her actions,” the statement said. “Additionally an outside third party further altered the breakdown without our knowledge and posted it on social media. Cadillac unequivocally did not authorize this notice or anything like it, and we apologize to Cadillac for the ex-employee’s actions.”
A key figure in the movement is Stephen K. Bannon, President-elect Donald Trump’s chief strategist and senior adviser in the White House. Bannon was the executive chair of Breitbart News, a website popular with alt-right supporters.
Members of the alt-right said the movement was buoyed by Trump’s candidacy and election.
In August, Rocky Suhayda, a top American Nazi Party leader, said a Trump victory is “going to be a real opportunity for people like white nationalists,” according to The Washington Post.
And David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan leader, who ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in Louisiana, tweeted “God Bless WikiLeaks” shortly after Trump won the presidential election.
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