Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes has expanded its support for critics in marginalized communities through new partnerships with non-profit organizations. Through these generous partnerships, RT has exceeded its donations by $600,000.
While most companies like Netflix have fallen behind in its Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DEI) goals, RT continues to provide much-needed support to these communities in the past and present. It has recently renewed its $25,000 donation to the TIFF Media Inclusivity Initiative, bringing its overall contributions to $100,000 since 2018.
RT has partnered with GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, the National Association of Black Journalists, and Gold House. Each organization helps support different, often intersecting communities like the black, LGBTQ, Hispanic, and Asian Pacific Islanders. Rotten Tomatoes has donated to honors scholarships for the former and the second’s 2023 Arts and Media Institute. Additionally, it is acting as the founding partner of the Gold House Future Accelerator program for young Asian Pacific journalists.
These new partnerships are part of a continuous trend for the review website to help diversify its output and staffing. Of its more than 1,000 critics, half are women, and 24% are people of color. With its acceptance of freelancing critics and new outputs, 66% of Rotten Tomatoes critics are from historically excluded backgrounds.
According to critic engagement director Jenny Jediny, their main DEI goals are to amplify “diverse voices and perspectives across our Rotten Tomatoes platforms” while giving “access to critics who historically have not been given early access to entertainment content” in other media outlets.
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