Is James Patterson's claim that white men face racism an enraging PR stunt from a former ad man?

(Salon) One of richest living writers in the world, James Patterson, said in an interview with The Times on Sunday that white men like him face racism within the publishing, theatre, and film and TV industries. He described the alleged difficulty confronting the most privileged members of society as "just another form of racism. . . . Can you get a job? Yes. Is it harder? Yes. It's even harder for older writers. You don't meet many 52-year-old white males."

Citing industries almost entirely dominated by white men, Patterson doesn't have the facts on his side. The respected Lee & Low Books Diversity Baseline Survey reported in its 2019 findings that 76% of the publishing industry is white. According to a different 2020 study, 95% of published writers are white. Male writers receive more attention, acclaim and income than female writers, with 75% of books reviewed in the prestigious Times Literary Supplement written by men. Books about women are less likely to win prizes (which can translate into sales). Their titles receive about "half (45%) the price of male authors' and are underrepresented in more prestigious genres."

On the performance side, a study from The Asian American Performers Action Coalition found almost 90% of playwrights who had their works staged in the 2016-17 New York season were white and male (87.1% of those performances were directed by white directors). As Playbill reported: "On Broadway alone, 95% of all plays and musicals were both written and directed by Caucasian artists" while 89% of Broadway-produced playwrights were male.

Hollywood has a similar record. In 2019, over 85% of directors were white and over 84% were male. In 2017, only 11% of the year's top 250 films were written by women.

....(snip)....

But is this also a publicity stunt by an expert at the con? Maybe.

Since 1976, the Patterson name has been embossed on hundreds of novels you can find at airports; 260 were New York Times bestsellers. He may not even know how many he's published, as he didn't write all of them. .............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2022/06/14/james-patterson-pr-stunt-men/