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.”