17381: On Omnicom WARN WTF BS.

 

Adweek reported Omnicom clarified a WARN notice filed with New York State in December—indicating 100 layoffs for IPG’s former NYC headquarters—is just part of the 4,000 pink slips to be issued in the months ahead.

 

Still no clarification, however, on how restructurings, redundancies, and RIFs impact DEIBA+ Human Heat Shields.

 

Omnicom Clarifies WARN Notice Detailing 100 Job Cuts 

 

Holdco confirms redundancies were part of the 4,000 announced in December following its IPG acquisition

 

By Rebecca Stewart

 

UPDATE: IPG has confirmed that a newly-published WARN notice filed with New York State pertains to redundancies that already occurred as part of its $13 billion November acquisition of Interpublic Group (IPG).

 

Based on the WARN data, which Omnicom filed in December but WARN did not make public until Feb 23, ADWEEK previously reported that Omnicom planned to cut an additional 94 jobs in the U.S. starting March 1.

 

However, an Omnicom spokesperson has since clarified: “This is nothing new as the filing is a compliance requirement for actions we made back on December 1, 2025.”

 

The notice detailed how 92 of 251 employees at IPG’s former NYC headquarters at 909 Third Avenue were laid off as part of its sweeping restructuring, along with two of 84 staff at the former holdco’s 100 West 33rd Street office.

 

‘New Omnicom’ Doubles Cost-Cutting

 

In December 2025, the new Omnicom announced 4,000 redundancies as part of a business reset, which saw it retire major creative agency brands including FCB, DDB, and MullenLowe.

 

The job cuts came in addition to the 3,200 roles IPG shed earlier last year, ahead of the acquisition, and the 3,000 staffers Omnicom let go after announcing the deal last fall.

At the time, Omnicom chief executive (CEO) John Wren estimated the total number of eliminated positions to around 10,000, or roughly 8% of the combined companies’ 2024 headcount.

 

During Omnicom’s first post-acquisition quarterly earnings update in February, Wren revealed that he had doubled the company’s cost-cutting target to $1.5 billion by 2028. This includes saving $900 million in 2026.

 

Wren told investors that $1 billion of Omnicom’s savings would come from “reductions in labor costs,” achieved by cutting corporate, network, and operational roles.

 

He also said that a simplified regional, country, and brand structure, and a more “unified” business model, along with outsourcing and offshoring to lower-cost markets, would help Omnicom reach its goal in the next 30 months.

 

CORRECTION 10:43 AM ET: A previous version of this story stated that Omnicom planned to cut an additional 94 roles. The article has been updated to clarify that the WARN notice reflected previously announced, public redundancies.

17380: BHM 2026—Harlem Globetrotters.

The Drum reported on the Harlem Globetrotters scoring its 100th anniversary, coinciding with the Black History Month centennial.

 

How Harlem Globetrotters are tipping off centennial with global licensing push

 

By Margo Waldrop

 

As the exhibition basketball team approach 100, president Keith Dawkins, along with IMG Licensing vice-president Brett Weiss, shares with The Drum how partnerships, retail expansion and new platforms are repositioning the team as a multi-platform global entertainment brand.

 

For decades, the Harlem Globetrotters were shorthand for trick shots, packed arenas and a theme song you could hum on command. As the team heads toward its 100th anniversary this year, leadership is asking a tougher question: what does a century-old brand look like on TikTok, in streetwear drops and in the collectibles aisle?

 

The answer, at least so far, is scale and reach. Since IMG Licensing became the Globetrotters’ global licensing agent in 2024, the focus has moved from memory to momentum. Apparel, headwear, collectibles, toys and lifestyle products are rolling out through collaborations with New Era, Ovo, Actively Black, NBA Lab and Shoe Palace. The centennial campaign began on December 14 with an anniversary game at Madison Square Garden, kicking off a yearlong run of more than 400 events across 25 countries, alongside new content initiatives and expanded retail.

 

The bigger ambition is repositioning the Globetrotters from a touring attraction to a multi-platform global entertainment brand.

 

Letting go of the scrapbook without losing the soul

 

Keith Dawkins, president of the Harlem Globetrotters, says the centennial has not been about discarding the past but broadening the frame.

 

“It hasn’t been about letting go, but about unleashing new thinking,” he says. At their peak in the 70s and 80s, fans knew the stars, saw them on TV, attended live tours and bought the merchandise. Revitalizing the brand meant building “a new ecosystem” for where audiences live now.

 

If the Globetrotters want another 100 years, they cannot rely on the road alone. Dawkins talks about meeting fans across linear and streaming platforms, social and digital channels, gaming, consumer products and live events. “New platforms and new strategic partners, along with a clear vision and great execution, will ignite a bright new future,” he says.

 

Some elements remain untouched. Dawkins calls the team’s identity as “ambassadors of goodwill” non-negotiable. Joy, hope and possibility are the filters every collaboration must pass through. Modern fashion, music and sports partners understand those values and build around them.

 

Success in the centennial year, he adds, will not be measured only in attendance or merchandise sales. It is about showing up “where the audience resides in ways that are fresh and meaningful.” If that works, relevance and audience growth follow.

 

Anchoring the celebration at Madison Square Garden puts the brand exactly where it wants to be. The arena bills itself as the world’s most famous and pairing it with a 100-year milestone amplifies both history and ambition. The Garden hosts artists and athletes who shape what people pay attention to and the Globetrotters want to be in that mix.

 

Modernizing a legacy brand

 

For Brett Weiss, vice-president at IMG Licensing, the first hurdle was perception. “One of the biggest misconceptions was that the Harlem Globetrotters were purely a legacy touring sports property rooted in nostalgia,” he says. “In reality, the brand is a unique platform that sits at the intersection of sport, entertainment, fashion and social impact, with deep multigenerational and global equity.”

 

Weiss describes the 100th anniversary as “the perfect catalyst” to rethink how the brand is perceived. “It allowed us to honor heritage while signaling the future,” he says, pointing to new ownership under Herschend and IMG’s role in steering a global licensing strategy designed to prove the brand’s relevance heading into its next century.

 

In his view, modernization did not mean starting from scratch. “The key was not reinvention, it was reinterpretation,” Weiss says. Rather than dilute that 100-year legacy, IMG spotlighted archival assets, storytelling and iconography while inviting contemporary partners to reinterpret them for today. Product placements in fast-fashion and mall channels, streetwear labels like Ovo and headwear specialists such as New Era helped validate relevance with younger consumers.

 

The test for any collaboration, Weiss adds, is whether it delivers more than a logo hit. “For us, a collaboration must deliver three things: credibility, audience expansion and long-term brand equity. Our best partners tap into 100 years of assets and reinterpret them in ways that feel thoughtful and premium.”

 

Licensing as discovery engine

 

The most significant evolution may be how licensing functions inside the business. Under Herschend’s ownership, the Globetrotters have adopted an always-on entertainment model, expanding far beyond the traditional tour calendar.

 

“Licensing now plays a central role in fan engagement and storytelling, not just revenue generation,” Weiss says. Consumer products sit alongside live events, content, social media and experiential activations as part of one connected ecosystem.

 

He adds that the strategy isn’t limited to venue retail. “We’ve moved beyond arena-only distribution into a coordinated global approach, placing product in thousands of retail doors while integrating licensing into content moments and tour experiences.”

 

For younger audiences, discovery may start with a hoodie, a gaming tie-in or a trading card rather than a ticket. Weiss believes that moving to the entry point is critical. “Discovery will increasingly happen through commerce and collectibles, not just live events,” he says. “Products become discovery moments that extend beyond the core audience.”

 

The centennial may celebrate the past, but the strategy is built for shelf space, screen time and sustained visibility. For the Globetrotters, licensing is the new growth plan.

17379: The State Of DEIBA+ Is Ended.

 

In the 2026 State of the Union Address, President Donald J. Trump declared, “We ended DEI in America!”

 

For over 75 years, White advertising agencies have declared, “We ended DEI in Adland!”

17378: Trouble At Opinionated, IMHO.

 

Advertising Age reported Tombras axed Opinionated Founder Mark Fitzloff, mere weeks after acquiring the White advertising agency.

 

According to Ad Age, the dismissal decision followed an HR grievance submitted by an Opinionated employee charging allegations of a sexual nature against Fitzloff.

 

Expect things to devolve into a His Opinion/Her Opinion scenario.

 

Opinionated founder Mark Fitzloff fired after selling his agency to Tombras

 

By Brian Bonilla

 

Tombras has fired Mark Fitzloff, Opinionated’s founder and executive creative director, just a few weeks after acquiring the agency.

 

“Tombras has parted ways with Mark Fitzloff. This is a confidential personnel matter, and we are not at liberty to comment further,” a Tombras spokesman wrote in a statement.

 

The decision follows an HR complaint lodged by an Opinionated employee that contained allegations of a sexual nature against Fitzloff, according to multiple people close to the situation. The allegation has to do with events or an event that occurred before the deal to acquire the agency, now called Opinionated, a Tombras company.

 

Fitzloff’s final day was Feb. 11, according to sources. He did not return multiple requests for comment. Tombras declined to comment beyond the statement.

 

Portland, Oregon-based Opinionated made a name for itself in the industry with work for brands such as Panda Express, Shake Shack and Hinge. The agency reported its strongest annual growth in 2024, when revenue jumped 44% to more than $23 million. Opinionated hit $30 million in revenue in 2025.

 

Before launching Opinionated in 2017, Fitzloff had spent around 17 years at Wieden+Kennedy, where he rose through the ranks from copywriter to executive creative director.

17377: Another DEIBA+ Scoreboard For Super Bowl LX Advertising.

 

Adweek reported on DEIBA+ representation in Super Bowl LX advertising, presenting questionable data with obscure criteria from a market research firm.

 

For example, campaign diversity was measured as follows:

 

“The firm tallied ads that showed two or more clearly distinct racial or ethnic groups onscreen—not in the background—for a total of at least three seconds.”

 

Additionally, “multicultural narratives” were measured as follows:

 

“The firm measured how many of the ads depicted a character from a historically underrepresented group who was speaking, driving the story action, or visually centered for at least a quarter of the ad.”

 

BTW, the market research firm’s leadership team is not very diverse.

 

2026’s Super Bowl Ads Are More Diverse, but Celebs Still Skew White 

 

LGBTQ+ representation dropped for the second year in a row

 

By Kathryn Lundstrom

 

2026 Super Bowl ads reflected more racial diversity than last year, but celebrity talent in the ads was still primarily white. LGBTQ representation also dropped in this year’s crop of Big Game ads.

 

A majority of national Super Bowl spots (68%) visibly represented multiple racial or ethnic groups, according to an analysis from market research firm Zappi. The firm tallied ads that showed two or more clearly distinct racial or ethnic groups onscreen—not in the background—for a total of at least three seconds.

 

That percentage was up from last year, when just 57% of the ads represented multiple racial or ethnic groups. In 2024, 70% of ads represented multiple racial or ethnic groups.

 

More ads built multicultural representation into the story

 

Multicultural narratives were also better represented in Super Bowl 60 ads compared to the last two years, according to Zappi. The firm measured how many of the ads depicted a character from a historically underrepresented group who was speaking, driving the story action, or visually centered for at least a quarter of the ad.

 

Twenty-six percent of Super Bowl spots depicted multicultural representation as central to the narrative this year, up from 6% in 2025.

 

Zappi’s analysis found better diversity boosts ad effectiveness. Ads that focused on representation—like Dove, Rocket, NFL, Volkswagen, Toyota, and Novo Nordisk—scored 8% above average in terms of sales impact, the firm said.

 

But when it comes to celebrity talent, most brands are still casting white celebrities. Of the 103 celebrities who appeared in Super Bowl ads this year, at least 60 of them were white, according to ADWEEK’s count.

 

LGBTQ+ representation falls, again

 

On a separate diversity metric, GLAAD published a list of ads starring LGBTQ talent, which dropped for the second year in a row. Just five spots in the Big Game explicitly featured LGBTQ people, the advocacy group reported, all of whom are out celebrities.

 

Those ads were Levi’s, Nerds, Pokémon, Ritz, and State Farm. GLAAD noted 2026 was the third straight year without transgender representation in a national Super Bowl ad.

17376: Does DEIBA+ Click With Brand Social Media?

For Black History Month, Advertising Age is publishing content from Blacks in Adland, covering a variety of topics.

 

The content below is titled, “Why instinct and diversity are essential in brand social media success.”

 

Okay, except White advertising agencies don’t view diversity as essential. Need proof? Look for BHM social media posts presented by any White advertising agency in February.

 

In Adland, systemic racism is instinctive—and it’s gone viral for decades.

 

Why instinct and diversity are essential in brand social media success

 

By Ryan Bauman

 

I have and will always be a little obsessed with pop culture and social media. It started from a young age. When I got my first iPod Touch, it felt like a whole new world was here just for me. Being able to see what was happening in real life, in the palm of my hand, could never be something I’d forget. Honestly, I still can’t. Growing up, culture always had an impact on how I see the world, especially within social media.

 

I never knew that social media could be something that I could have a career in. Everything, by the grace of God, flowed so easily within the world of social media for me. Seeing what trends were popular and how they made a change in culture, especially Black culture, was something that just clicked. I knew that I wanted to be able to be a representative of my culture, yet also be able to tie to the very captivating world of social media.

 

So, I took a leap of faith. Applying to the BLAC advertising internship program was something I instinctively knew I needed to do at the time. It opened the world of advertising for me, and I didn’t even know it. You can learn so much when taking a look back and seeing how things just work out.

 

I never would have thought that BLAC would have led me to work on one of the most beloved brands in social, Wendy’s. Joining a powerhouse in social media felt daunting at first, but overall exciting. Taking one trend, one post at a time, was my way of seeing a new opportunity with and for the team, every day. Then, it happened.

 

An immense instinct came when the quarter zips trend was just starting to get traction on social media. My art direction partner, Nyah Evans, and I acted fast by putting Wendy’s in a quarter zip. It went viral. From coverage on Complex to even getting a deal made with the creator of the trend, Jason Gyamfi, it blossomed into something more than just a social post.

 

Virality is so important, especially since social media is so saturated with content. It’s even harder now to stand out. We were able to act fast and cater a message to our culture, and let the world take notice. This idea worked because of the natural connection we made to the trend with our authentic representation of what’s trending in Black culture. The fact that it came from a major brand such as Wendy’s speaks volumes to the caliber of diverse voices on the team.

 

Hiring talent that may look, think, or have different upbringings from you leads to diverse, effective, and collaborative work. It stems from that gut feeling, that instinct that will keep informing you one trend, one post, one hire at a time. It leads to creating work that reflects my culture and resonates with many.

 

And that’s the funny thing about instinct. Without it, I wouldn’t have taken a leap of faith. Instinct is not only what makes culture and social media thrive, but it sometimes leads us to places, jobs, and opportunities that we could have never dreamed of, but undoubtedly deserve.

 

Oh, if little Ryan could only see how far she’s come now.

17375: WPP Media Whistleblower Lawsuit Blowing Up…?

 

Digiday reported the latest news involving a $100 million whistleblower lawsuit filed against WPP last year.

 

The accusations target WPP and GroupM, the latter which was rebranded under the WPP Media banner in 2025.

 

If the lawsuit ultimately impacts WPP Media, will the former GroupM shoulder the bulk of financial burdens or will all media firms in the network equally share the troubles?

 

Expect a crumby reduction of performative promises made to Black-owned media too.

 

In fighting a whistleblower suit, WPP put its own account of media agency trading on the public record

 

By Seb Joseph

 

The $100 million whistleblower lawsuit Richard Foster filed against WPP last November is back in focus. New court filings — including WPP’s motion to dismiss and exhibits that place Foster’s own internal documents into the public record for the first time — have added significant texture to both sides of a case that initial headlines only scratched the surface of.

 

Most notably among the exhibits is Foster’s own internal report to GroupM CEO Brian Lesser, which contains internal data on client opt-in rates, platform spend, and income targets that haven’t been public until now. The materials were first reported by The Times.

 

Before unpacking those materials, here’s a recap of how the case reached this point. 

 

Who’s suing whom

 

Foster spent 17 years at GroupM, ending as global CEO of Motion Content Group — the division that co-produced Love Island, managed roughly $500 million in annual entertainment investment, and by his own filed data was posting 140% US revenue growth in his final year. He was fired on July 10, 2025, the day after WPP’s stock dropped 18% on a trading update disclosing serious deterioration at WPP Media. He filed suit in November 2025 against WPP and GroupM (since rebranded WPP Media), seeking at least $100 million, Business Insider reported. 

 

What Foster alleges

 

Foster claims GroupM, which according to the complaint controlled roughly $60 billion in annual client ad spend at its peak, ran a hidden profit center by systematically retaining rebates that should have gone back to advertisers. Allegedly, GroupM’s media trading arm would aggregate client budgets to hit volume thresholds with vendors, triggering rebates in the form of free or discounted inventory. Rather than returning those benefits to clients, GroupM allegedly reclassified the inventory as “proprietary media,” sold it back through opt-in agreements, and booked the spread as “non-product related income.” Foster estimates GroupM generated $3 to $4 billion in rebate-driven deals over five years and improperly retained $1.5 to $2 billion of it.

 

The executives Foster implicates include Mark Patterson, now global president of WPP Media, whom he identifies as the primary architect of the rebate strategy and who publicly called rebates “not a dirty word” in 2016; Andrew Meaden, global chief investment officer, who allegedly institutionalized the practice and in one meeting proposed diverting client spend away from Meta because Meta refused a proprietary deal; and WPP general counsel Nicola McCormick, who Foster alleges privately described the rebate situation as “existential” while declining to formally investigate.

 

The document at the center of everything

 

In December 2024, at incoming GroupM CEO Brian Lesser’s request, Foster submitted a 36-page internal report, dubbed “Project Claridges”, laying out both a critique of GroupM’s trading’s practices and a proposal for a new consolidated entertainment division with projected net sales of over $2 billion by 2029. The report contains internal data that is now in the public court record, including a breakdown showing that among GroupM’s top 30 U.S. billing clients, representing $13.5 billion in total billings, only 5% of eligible spend was actually used through the proprietary inventory deals. 

 

Breaking it down further: among the top 10 clients alone, representing $8.5 billion in billings, 62% of their spend went through non-proprietary channels entirely, and 91.9% of the proprietary inventory generated went unused. Google, GroupM’s single largest US client at $2.3 billion in annual billings, utilized just 0.51% of the proprietary inventory its budget was helping to generate, meaning 99.5% went unused. These were the clients whose collective spending was being used to hit the volume thresholds that triggered the rebates in the first place.

 

Lesser acknowledged the report’s concerns and said he’d investigate further. He then asked Foster to send Patterson a “sanitized” version excluding criticism of GroupM’s trading arm. Before Foster could do so, Lesser forwarded the unedited original to Patterson. Patterson, having read a detailed critique of his own practices, told Foster he had “all he needed.” Within hours, Foster’s division was placed under Patterson’s oversight. Six months later he was fired.

 

Where the money was being spent

 

The internal documents also show the scale of GroupM’s platform relationships in 2023, establishing the leverage at the center of the alleged scheme. Globally: Google accounted for $9.4 billion in spend, Meta $3.7 billion, TikTok $1.1 billion, Amazon $1.1 billion, and The Trade Desk $1.1 billion. In the US: Google represented $4.9 billion, Meta $1.4 billion, Disney $835 million, NBCU $700 million, Paramount $540 million, and Warner Bros. Discovery $417 million. Total tracked global platform spend: $18.5 billion. U.S. network and platform spend: $9.8 billion.

 

With that volume to direct, GroupM had considerable power to pressure vendors into proprietary arrangements — and, the complaint alleges, to penalize those who refused.

 

WPP’s defense

 

WPP’s motion to dismiss makes three arguments worth taking seriously. 

 

First and most damaging to Foster: according to a sworn affirmation from Lesser, Foster’s counsel sent WPP a draft complaint on October 10, 2025 — more than two months before filing — and threatened to go public unless GroupM agreed to a large severance payment within 30 days. WPP refused, and the lawsuit followed. WPP argues that offering to stay silent for a payout is fundamentally incompatible with being a whistleblower.

 

Second, WPP contends that the Project Claridges report — Foster’s supposed evidence of protected disclosure — contains no mention of illegal activity. Its position is that it’s a business proposal for Foster’s own promotion, not a whistleblower document, and that Foster is retroactively reframing an ambitious pitch.

 

Third, Foster was among hundreds of U.S. GroupM employees and thousands globally let go in a documented restructuring. His entire division was eliminated. Six months elapsed between his last alleged report and his termination.

 

Why it matters beyond the lawsuit

 

The China backdrop lends the allegations weight. In October 2023, Chinese authorities raided GroupM’s offices and detained more than 30 employees for systematically retaining client rebates — precisely what Foster claims was happening globally. WPP hit a 27-year stock low in October 2025 when new CEO Cindy Rose publicly conceded WPP Media had “lost its way”. 

 

Where it likely ends up

 

A settlement would not be surprising. WPP cannot afford the discovery process, with internal communications about rebate practices potentially feeding both the shareholder litigation and client contract reviews. But the extortion allegation gives WPP real leverage to limit the payout.

 

The bigger question the case raises has nothing to do with Foster specifically: if GroupM’s own internal data shows its largest clients were almost entirely not benefiting from the proprietary inventory deals that generated nearly $1 billion in annual agency income, what exactly was the business model? That’s a question advertisers, regulators, and shareholders are now all asking — with or without this lawsuit.

 

WPP declined to comment.

17374: BHM 2026—Advertising Age On DEIBA+ Hiring.

For Black History Month, Advertising Age is publishing content from Blacks in Adland, covering a variety of topics.

 

The content below is titled, “Why agencies need to recommit to diversity hiring.”

 

Okay, but is it technically a recommitment if there was no DEIBA+ commitment from the start?

 

The true problem: White advertising agencies are committed to systemic racism, recommitting at every opportunity—ultimately limiting DEIBA+ opportunities.

 

Why agencies need to recommit to diversity hiring

 

By Chris Witherspoon

 

Every February, someone asks me to write something. A reflection. A rally cry. A “here’s how far we’ve come.”

 

And this year? I’m not sure what to say.

 

Black History Month is nearly over. The calendar says celebration. LinkedIn says thought leadership. But if I’m honest, what I feel most right now isn’t inspiration.

 

It’s concern. Because the numbers aren’t moving the way we hoped.

 

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Black professionals make up roughly 13% of the U.S. workforce, but in advertising, PR, and related industries, that number sits closer to 6%–7%. Leadership representation is even thinner. Progress over the past decade has been incremental at best—flat in some places.

 

Industry reports from the 4As show that diversity hiring gains made in 2020 and 2021 have slowed or reversed as budgets tightened and mergers accelerated.

 

Add to that the political crosswinds around anything labeled DEI. In some boardrooms, the conversation has shifted from “How do we do more?” to “How do we stay out of the headlines?” Scrutiny is louder. Risk tolerance is lower. And inclusion is often the first thing quietly deprioritized.

 

At the grassroots level, we feel it too.

 

The BLAC Internship Program—the nonprofit I chair— exists to open doors for Black and underrepresented talent into marketing and communications careers. This year, we saw a record number of applicants. Interest didn’t cool—it climbed.

 

But agency participation has softened. Not because the talent disappeared, but because priorities have shifted. The result? More students are ready to step in, but fewer seats are available.

 

That gap is hard to ignore.

 

The same pattern is showing up at the 4As MAIP program, long considered the gold-standard pipeline into our industry. When hiring freezes hit, diverse candidates tend to feel it first.

 

To be clear: it’s hard for everyone right now. Mergers. Layoffs. AI disruption. Clients consolidating rosters. Entry-level hiring slowing. I own an agency; I understand the pressure.

 

But here’s what worries me. In moments of economic strain, inclusion gets reframed as optional. A “nice to have.” Something we’ll return to when times improve.

 

History suggests that when momentum pauses, regression follows. That’s the part I don’t want to normalize.

 

So what do I say this February?

 

If applications are down, we recruit harder. If hiring slows, we protect the pipeline. If belief is wavering, we demonstrate commitment.

 

Not performative posts. Not one-month campaigns. Sustained action.

 

Black History Month shouldn’t be the only time we talk about access and representation. It’s simply the reminder that progress isn’t permanent.

 

Maybe that’s the message this year: Not a celebration. A recommitment.

 

Chris Witherspoon is CEO of DNA&Stone and chair of BLAC

17373: Taking Whitewashing To Wuthering Heights.

 

 

From The New York Times…

 

Jacob Elordi, Heathcliff and the Controversy Over ‘Wuthering Heights’

 

The character’s racial identity is at the heart of accusations that the film’s casting is “whitewashing.” But what does the original novel really say?

 

By Esther Zuckerman

 

In Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights,” Heathcliff is described as a “dark-skinned gipsy.” In Emerald Fennell’s new film “Wuthering Heights,” the character is portrayed by Jacob Elordi, a white actor from Australia.

 

Ever since Elordi was announced in the role, the choice has stirred up controversy online, where authenticity in casting is highly prized. Some frustrated fans have argued that the casting whitewashes the role. But Brontë scholars say that much of what the author writes about the character’s race remains up for interpretation, even if the consensus is that he was probably not intended to be white.

 

As a boy, Heathcliff is brought into the home of Catherine Earnshaw (who becomes his romantic obsession) by her father, Mr. Earnshaw. Quite a few passages in the novel suggest that Brontë, who died a year after its publication, intended to write Heathcliff as a person of color. In addition to being called “dark” and a “gipsy,” he is also referred to as a “Lascar,” a term for South Asian laborers on British ships.

 

At one point, Heathcliff compares himself with Edgar Linton, whom Catherine will eventually marry, saying, “I wish I had light hair and fair skin.” The servant Nelly Dean suggests that Heathcliff could be a “prince in disguise,” continuing, “Who knows but your father was emperor of China, and your mother an Indian queen.”

 

Susan Newby, learning officer at the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, England, said, “There is a sense that he is not white Anglo-Saxon, he’s something else, but you don’t know what that is.”

 

Some scholars believe that Brontë was using Heathcliff to comment on the Liverpool slave trade. Mr. Earnshaw brings Heathcliff from Liverpool, and Nelly, who narrates this part of the action, explains that Earnshaw saw Heathcliff starving and asked after his “owner.”

 

It makes sense that Brontë would be interested in slavery. Her father, Patrick Brontë, was associated with the abolitionist politician William Wilberforce, who, according to the Parsonage Museum, helped pay for Patrick to study at Cambridge.

 

Reginald Watson, an associate professor of literature at East Carolina University, has studied questions of Blackness in the works of the Brontës, including Emily’s sister Charlotte, the “Jane Eyre” author. “My belief is that because of the father’s involvement in abolitionism that both of the authors included connections to slavery in some form,” Watson said. His position is that while Heathcliff “may not be totally Black,” he is mixed.

 

Another theory, however, is that Brontë was using Heathcliff to comment on prejudices against the Irish, since her father was from Ireland and she was writing at the start of the potato famine there. “Think about Heathcliff who was brought from Liverpool and speaks a sort of gibberish,” said Elsie Michie, a professor of English at Louisiana State University. “The description of Heathcliff conforms almost exactly to the caricatures of the Irish.”

 

Michie added that the “dynamics of this novel are about otherness in various ways, and that otherness is in Heathcliff.”

 

Onscreen, however, Heathcliff has largely been played by white actors, including Timothy Dalton, Ralph Fiennes and, perhaps most famously, Laurence Olivier in William Wyler’s 1939 version opposite Merle Oberon as Catherine. (Oberon actually was South Asian but hid that to ascend in Hollywood at the time.) A notable exception is Andrea Arnold’s 2012 adaptation, in which the adult Heathcliff was played by the Black actor James Howson. In an interview with NPR at the time, Arnold said, “In the book it was clear he wasn’t white-skinned. I felt that Emily was not committing exactly; she was playing with her own difference as a female.”

 

Fennell’s version does away with references to Heathcliff’s race, instead largely focusing on his tortured romance with Cathy (Margot Robbie). Still, the cast doesn’t lack diversity entirely. Nelly is played by the Vietnamese American actress Hong Chau, and Shazad Latif, who is of Pakistani descent, plays Edgar Linton.

 

Asked about the Heathcliff casting by The Hollywood Reporter, Fennell emphasized that her decision was based on how she saw the text. “I think the thing is everyone who loves this book has such a personal connection to it, and so you can only ever make the movie that you sort of imagined yourself when you read it,” she said.

 

Speaking at the Brontë Women’s Writing Festival, hosted by the Parsonage Museum last year, Fennell said she thought Elordi “looked exactly like the illustration of Heathcliff” on the first copy she read.

 

Fidelity in casting has continued to be a hot topic. After Odessa A’zion was hired for the forthcoming adaptation of Holly Brickley’s novel “Deep Cuts,” there was an uproar because her character is described as half-Jewish, half-Mexican, and A’zion has no Mexican heritage. She dropped out of the project and explained on Instagram, “I hadn’t read the book and should have paid more attention to all aspects of Zoe before accepting.”

 

But while Newby, for instance, said she believes that Brontë presents Heathcliff as nonwhite, she also thinks the author leaves room for discussion. “She deliberately keeps it ambiguous,” Newby said.

 

At the same time, Newby isn’t bothered by Elordi’s casting, in part because Fennell has been so explicit about the film being from her own perspective. The director makes a number of major changes, getting rid of some characters and altering details of Cathy and Heathcliff’s interactions. “Somehow I feel more bothered by some past adaptations that have very unquestionably, unthinkingly showed him as being white without ever really reading the book and thinking, ‘Right, this is how it’s described,’” Newby said. “It was almost that was a default. You won’t be taken seriously as a lead if he’s not white.”

 

The mystery is also part of the appeal of Heathcliff: We never do learn his origins before Earnshaw brings him into that household.