Alec Baldwin’s movie “Blind” has come under fire from a group that advocates for the disabled for casting the “30 Rock” alum in the role of a sightless person.
In a statement to the Los Angeles Times, Ruderman Family Foundation president Jay Ruderman accused the movie of “treating disability as a costume,” likening the casting to blackface.
“Alec Baldwin in ‘Blind’ is just the latest example of treating disability as a costume,” Ruderman said. “We no longer find it acceptable for white actors to portray black characters. Disability as a costume needs to also become universally unacceptable.”
The film, which is scheduled for release July 14, stars Baldwin as Bill Oakland, a novelist who’s blinded in a car crash that also takes the life of his wife. Oakland’s passion for life and writing is reinvigorated when be begins an affair with the neglected wife of an indicted businessman.
Demi Moore and Dylan McDermott also star in the film.
According to the Foundation’s website, the group advocates for “the inclusion of people with disabilities throughout our society; strengthening the sense of commitment and responsibility towards the American Jewish community among Israeli leadership; and modeling the practice of strategic philanthropy worldwide.”