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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 13, 2021)
October 13, 2021 The Skanner Portland & Seattle Page 7 Arts & Entertainment cont’d from pg 7 and Ana de Armas, in a brief but action-packed appearance. Lynch’s role, though, is a landmark in the fran- chise. With that history has come a brighter spot- light than ever before on the 33-year-old Brit- ish Jamaican actor, who played a single-mother fighter pilot in “Captain Marvel.” Lynch has been widely celebrated for ex- panding the historically homogenous world of Bond in a role that — like others who have brought wider representation to decades-old franchises — has also brought online hostility. When news first leaked in 2019 that Lynch would be 007, her Insta- gram lit up with racist and misogynistic comments. “I was reminded of the institution that I was walking into and the world that doesn’t support people like me, necessarily,” Lynch says. “Once I got through that initial reaction, I plunged straight into work. I turned that ener- gy into stunts, into film- ing, into spending time with family and also re- evaluating how I use my phone. I now put them in cupboards. I take two- hour breaks.” “It’s something that should always be brought up,” she adds of the response. “Young people need to hear it.” Lynch first caught Broc- coli’s attention in Debbie Tucker Green’s “Ear for Eye,” a play at the Royal Court that Broccoli pro- duced. Lynch was part of a largely Black ensemble that give individual testi- monies of bias they expe- rience in their lives. “I was just blown away by her,” says Broccoli, who also produced an upcoming film adap- tation of “Ear for Eye,” co-starring Lynch, pre- miering Oct. 16 at the London Film Festival. “She’s an extraordinary, beautiful, talented actor. She seemed an obvious choice for Nomi, the 00 character. I think she’s a big star.” Before Craig took over Bond, Lynch says, she had had little relation- ship to the Bond films. But being invited to au- dition, she says, made her feel she was maybe entering the franchise at the right time. “As a Black Londoner, I didn’t have the oppor- tunity to be able to con- nect to James Bond in a way that made sense,” says Lynch. “Now, Daniel Craig entering the fran- chise and making him raw and dark and dan- gerous — I questioned his trauma for the first time.” Read more at TheSkanner.com Influenced by his dad and Tiger Woods, Wyatt Worthington II Hopes His Success Opens More Golfing Opportunities for People of Color By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia W yatt Worthing- ton II got his start in golf as a young teen growing up in Ohio. To hear Worthington tell his uplifting story, his ascension up the leaderboard was both a product of his father’s commitment to the game and a chance meeting with Tiger Woods. “I was 13 when I met Tiger,” Worthington re- called. “But [before that meeting], I would watch my dad hit balls. I didn’t think much of it at the time because no one I grew up with at the time knew anything about the game.” Worthington remem- bers picking up one of his father’s golf clubs and swinging. “I got the ball up in the air, and I was hooked,” he exclaimed. Worthington’s career has soared. This summer, he won the 76th Southern Ohio PGA Professional Cham- pionship in Columbus, shooting 10-under-par. “It is historic,” Worth- PHOTO: PGA OF AMERICA Bond Wyatt Worthington II says he hopes his success will help the game build on its diversity, equity, and inclusion mission. ington said, noting the rarity of an African American topping the leaderboard. Worthington cred- its his father and Tiger Woods, a 15-time major champion, for his suc- cess. As a young teen, Worthington met woods during a First Tee and Woods Foun- dation event. Woods helped the young man with his swing and provided the kind of confidence that helped Worthington qualify to play for the PGA Cham- pionship in 2016. Only the second Afri- can American in near- ly a quarter-century to qualify for the PGA Championship, Worth- ington barely missed qualifying a year earli- er. Despite his success – or, perhaps, because of it – Worthington advo- cates for more African American participation. “This beautiful, amaz- ing, and majestic game needs more represen- tation and more people who look like me and you involved,” Worth- ington declared. “Hopefully, that can change,” he said. “I think I was the first African American to win a Section Champi- onship in Ohio. I’m one of just a handful of Af- rican Americans to tee it up in a major cham- pionship, and that’s a jaw-dropping stat that is the history of golf.” Continuing efforts to promote diversity, equi- ty, and inclusion within the sport, the PGA of America and the PGA Tour have entered into a memorandum of under- standing with the Na- tional Newspaper Pub- lishers Association, the trade association that represents the Black Press of America. Worthington added that he hopes his success will help the game build on its diversity, equity, and inclusion mission. “We [African Amer- icans] don’t have the support, access, and op- portunity, that most of our peers are fortunate enough to have,” Worth- ington continued. “It’s tough. As African Americans, we don’t have the type of social network our peers have to get that help and sup- port. I hope I can have some type of exposure to the people who may not be introduced into the sport, and hopefully, that can change because this is an amazing game.”
