Reese Witherspoon And Jessica Chastain Question The Diversity Of Rotten Tomatoes' Critics

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Rotten Tomatoes is the most famous film review aggregate site and many average movie goers rely on it to see if a film is worth going to or not.

However, two Hollywood actresses have now questioned the site's accuracy in regards to having a certain bias on the type of critics that get added.

As you might know already, Rotten Tomatoes first has to approve websites and critics that are included to their ratings. Usually publications that are chosen are from big corporations that have lots of money and followers. 

Aside from that, Hollywood actresses Reese Witherspoon and Jessica Chastain have asked on Twitter what the gender and race balance is for critics. Witherspoon tweeted the following question earlier today. 

"After watching @cbssunday report on @RottenTomatoes , I found this interview with #MerylStreep fascinating. What is the gender balance of critics at @RottenTomatoes ? Are POC represented ? Genuinely curious"

Chastain retweeted Witherspoon's tweet and thinks more people should be included in Rotten Tomatoes' critic list. Chastain feels Rotten Tomatoes should be more inclusive with how it chooses the critics that are a part of the website. 

"This is hugely important. @RottenTomatoes tells an audience which stories are worthwhile. We need inclusivity in criticism."

This has been something that Meryl Streep addressed as far back as 2015 as posted by The Mary Sue.

Streep also feels there could also be an American bias to the site as well even though people from all over the world visit Rotten Tomatoes.

Diversity in film criticism has been an issue on Hollywood for a long time now. It was pointed out recently that the Academy Awards is flawed because most of its voters are older white males. 

Now the Academy is trying its best to include additional people to vote for their favorite films that include more women as well as people of color. It's a small step in the right direction. 

It will be interesting to see if Rotten Tomatoes itself tries a similar approach to add more voices to its critics list. Women and people of color are usually underrepresented in the film industry. 

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