Watching movies is among the most popular entertainment and cultural activities. As Hollywood calls for eliminating racial disparity, how do viewers react when a movie sequel increases racial minority actors in starring roles (“minority increase”)? On the one hand, such sequels may receive better ratings if viewers appreciate racially inclusive casting for its novel elements (the value-in-diversity perspective) and moral appeal (the fairness perspective for diversity). On the other hand, consumer discrimination research suggests that if viewers harbor bias against racial minorities, sequels with minority increase may receive worse ratings. To examine these competing possibilities, we analyze a novel panel dataset of 435 movies nested in 173 series released from 1998 to 2021 and conduct text analysis of 312,457 reviews. Consistent with discrimination research, we find that minority increase negatively predicts movie ratings, a link mediated by toxic language in movie reviews. Importantly, these effects are mitigated after the advent of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. We also rule out alternative explanations for the negative link between minority increase and movie ratings (e.g., cast change aversion; performance credential differences). We conceptually replicate the bias mitigation effect of BLM in a pre-registered experiment, finding that increasing the salience of BLM grows White audience’s acceptance of minority presence in a movie sequel. This research illustrates the power of social movements in fostering diversity and inclusion.
