We all know how the old virtue-signalling two-step goes. It’s been a common refrain since ’16 or thereabouts.

Boiled down, critics and columnists aren’t allowed to dismiss or pooh-pooh performances by actors of color. Most of us also understand that the spark and strategy behind fascinating (as well as less-than-fascinating) performances have no tribal component, but try telling that to the scold brigade. On the other hand since the Obama era there’s been a kneejerk tendency to praise any and all performances by non-white actors, just to be on the safe side.

For the sin of not being a fan of Sing Sing and feeling a tad sleepy about Colman Domingo‘s lead performance in that underwhelming film, “bentrane” tried yesterday to indict Hollywood Elsewhere for the usual racist discrimination, etc.

“It’s truly amazing that nearly every time a POC is nominated, you declare it a DEI choice,” he wrote. “First of all, Domingo totally deserves his nomination for his searing, uplifting performance. And the way you relate to nominations like his is truly ugly.”

HE reply: Many actors have given, currently give and always will give performances that are praiseworthy for reasons that have nothing to do with DEI instincts among lockstep virtue signallers like “bentrane.” I won’t take the bait or push back against his punitive tactics by listing several of these actors, some of whom are non-Anglos but are all pro-level artists, conveyers and communicators.

Sing Sing was/is a sensitive whiff. I saw it inside the AMC Lincoln Square last summer, and while it was effective in a certain heart-baring, docudrama-ish way it also just fucking LAID THERE. Domingo’s “I feel it so deeply…this is what I do as my eyes glisten and moisten…can you FEEL ME feelin’ it, not just in my performances but during interviews on the red carpet?” schtick is fine as far it goes, but don’t tell me it’s not patented schtick. His lead performance in Rustin was all about that.

What is empathy schtick? It’s when you can sense and at times literally SEE the gears moving.

Remember the twitchy, neurotic Jack Lemmon schtick that he used in damn near every film (and often effectively — don’t get me wrong) once he became the patented, Oscar-approved “Jack Lemmon” in the mid ‘60s? Colman Domingo is doing the exact same thing these days.

Imagined bentrane: “You can say that about Lemmon and other actors who’ve developed a certain dependable schtick that has worked with many critics and often with Academy voters, but you CAN’T say that about Colman Domingo because if you do you’re a truly ugly racist, not to mention a homophobe.”

”Bentrane”, in short, is not only practicing but enforcing a form of award-season identity admonishment — think and say the right things about certain distinguished actors of color or you’ll be tied to the whipping post.

Inner “bentrane” frustration: “If only I could use some kind of race-card admonishment to castigate Wells for his expressions of pique and annoyment about Adrien Brody’s ‘Brutalist’ performance, but I can’t, dammit! Wait…maybe if I call him an anti-Semite? That might work!”