Romany Malco, an actor, had the opportunity to speak on The Breakfast Club where he spoke about the politics in entertainment. He started to talk about how the political notions surrounding America, and what that means when you exist in the Information Age and the time when Donald Trump is running for president.

“Sensationalism makes money.”

Malco, one of the actors in Think Like A Man 1 & 2, talked about how the news is sensationalized, dramatizing different issues that don’t need to be elongated. In order to fully understand the news, it is important to know the history behind the facts, which will not happen because of our short attention spans.

Angela Yee, then, brings up our diminishing attention spans as Snapchat comes alive and Twitter only allows 140 characters. Malco went to note that we’re in a society that wants to everything to fit in our lifestyle instead of going out and reaching for it.

“We’re not looking for information, we’re looking for affirmation” Malco exclaimed which highlights an issue with today’s use of social media, seeking validation from many people, instead of looking inward.

He mentioned how acting is a creative field, but he is not asked about making creative decisions, which puts a psychological strain on him. “We’re being hired for being creative, but you don’t get asked to make creative choices. You get asked to make political choices. And for me, eight months of doing that is a sure-shot way to alcoholism. I need a creative outlet.”

The Breakfast Club opened up an important discussion on how the media can be used as a positive outlet, spreading information rather than allowing gossip to become the standard concept for news.

Also, who knew that Romany Malco was so woke? You can view the video below.

(Photo by Mark Davis/Getty Images)

Author

  • Travis Henry is a senior at Rutgers University studying Communication, with a concentration in Strategic Public Relations and Public Communication, and French. Currently, he is looking at the relationship between consumer brands and African-American youth and how the Black-white racial segregation has manifested online. When he is not doing research at school or writing at work, he finds himself “curating the human experience” via his magazine DWNTWN and editing his school’s magazine Voice. He sees himself in the future finding a career that hybrids music, activism, media, and writing.