'Gossip Girl' reboot loses all-White cast and focuses on BLM, LGBTQ and income inequality

'Gossip Girl' reboot loses all-White cast and focuses on BLM, LGBTQ and income inequality
'Gossip Girl' which premieres on July 8 on HBO Max features a far more diverse cast than the original ([email protected])

The love for a piece of good gossip is diverse and it's heartening to see that 'Gossip Girl' itself has become more diverse as well. While the original 'Gossip Girl' had an all-White cast, the reboot will now reflect the diversity of the youth in New York City through a much larger prism, not just in terms of 'non White' leading actors, but also plenty of nods to different shades of sexuality. 

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Joshua Safran, who is the showrunner of the reboot which is set approximately 12 years after the original, says this is the aspect of the show he is most proud of. Safran says, "Even when I went to private school in New York in the '90s, the school didn't necessarily reflect what was on Gossip Girl. So this time around the leads are non White. There's a lot of queer content on this show. It is very much dealing with the way the world looks now, where wealth and privilege come from and how you handle that." Cast member Whitney Peak in an interview with Cosmopolitan said, "I want all the hers and the hes and the theys and the people of color from all over the world to be able to watch the show and think, that's a person who looks like me. I don't have to be the stereotypical idea of who I am." If you enjoy fashionable teen dramas with an edge, then perhaps shows like 'Elite' and 'Riverdale' beside the original 'Gossip Girl' should also make your watchlist.