Sapphires Condemn ‘Racist’ US DVD Cover

The original members of the Sapphires have condemned the American DVD release of Australian film The Sapphires due to what they claim is a 'racist' cover.

The successful film based on the career of the female group, and the racial struggles they endured in the '60s and '70s, stars Deborah Mailman, Jessica Mauboy, Shari Sebbens and Miranda Tapsell as the Sapphires and Irishman Chris O'Dowd as their manager. In the US cover of the DVD release O'Dowd is promoted to the front of the image while the four female actors are relegated to the background under a blue filter.

A letter to the US lobby group National Association For The Advancement Of Coloured People [NAACP] on behalf of the original Sapphires Naomi Mayers, Beverly Briggs, Lois Peeler and Laurel Robinson states, “As I'm sure you can appreciate, the treatment of people of colour in Australia mirrored much of the trauma to which people in the United States were subjected. That trauma – and much of that treatment – remains alive and well in Australia today, as I know it does in the United States.”

The letter continues, “The US cover of the DVD completely misses this point, and in fact reinforces precisely the sort of bigotry that Naomi, Beverly, Lois and Laurel fought so hard against.”

O'Dowd himself called the cover “vile” on Twitter recently, adding, “Certainly not my choice.”

The letter calls on the NAACP for help in raising the issue with US distributor Anchor Bay to re-think the cover or encourage the public to boycott the edition.

“It's disrespectful to the very talented young Aboriginal actors in the film, and it's disrespectful to us as a group,” it continued. “But in particular, it's disrespectful to women of colour everywhere who have stood up against this sort of thing all their lives.”

An online petition has over 6,800 signatures at time of publish.

The US cover