Brie Larson doesn't hate white dudes, but wants more diversity among film critics

The "Captain Marvel" star received the Crystal Award for Excellence in Film at The 2018 Crystal + Lucy Awards and used her time at the podium to discuss a lack of diversity in film criticism.

Larson elicited applause when she said she didn't need "a white dude to tell me what didn't work for him about '[A] Wrinkle in Time.'"

"It wasn't made for him," Larson said. "I want to know what that film meant to women of color, to biracial women, to teen women of color, to teens that are biracial. And for the third time, I don't hate white dudes. These are just facts, these are not my feelings."

The facts Larson cited were from a recent study by the University of Southern California Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, which examined movie reviews.

The group looked at 100 top-grossing films of 2017 on the site Rotten Tomatoes to assess the gender and ethnicity of the critics and found that reviewers are overwhelmingly white and male.

According to the report, only 22% of nearly 20,000 reviews evaluated were written by women and 82% were authored by white critics.

In her speech, Larson called for this to change.

"What I am saying is that if you make a movie that is a love letter to women of color, there is an insanely low chance a woman of color will have the chance to see your movie and review your movie," she said. "We need to be conscious of our bias and make sure that everyone is in the room."

"A Wrinkle In Time" director Ava DuVernay praised Larson's comments, calling the actress and filmmaker "a warrior" in a tweet.

Larson also announced that the Toronto and Sundance Film Festivals have committed to ensure at least 20% of critics credentialed for their next festivals will be from underrepresented groups.