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Celebrities Visit SiriusXM Studios - October 26, 2015

Source: Astrid Stawiarz / Getty

The beauty of the internet is that a quick Google search can prevent you from being one of those misinformed people on social media. Unfortunately, that was lost on far too many white people, who shared their lack of knowledge about The Wiz on Twitter.

“I just learned there is a black version of The Wizard of Oz called “The Wiz” – how is this not racist?” wrote Twitter user @MJTM.

Now, we don’t mind if you haven’t heard of the play or the film. There are tons of productions in Hollywood and it’s hard to keep to up with everything. But before you go crying “racism,” why not look something up? Why not educate yourself on pieces of culture beyond what you know?

But we’re here to help —

To give a little historical context, The Wiz originally debuted as a stage play in 1974 in Baltimore and then in 1975 on Broadway. The play purposely has an all-Black cast, as it is an adaptation of the children’s book from 1900, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the same book on which the all-White 1939 film, The Wizard Of Oz, is based.

The Broadway production, starring Stephanie Mills, made history and broke racial barriers, winning seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical.

In 1978, Diana Ross played the role of Dorothy in the film adaptation of The Wiz, which also starred Michael Jackson, Richard Pryor and Lena Horne.

There have been several more reprisals of the play including a short-lived 2009 run with Ashanti.

Regardless of the forty-year history of The Wiz, we find White people’s utter shock and bewilderment of the casting hilarious. Check out some of the racially insensitive tweets below.

Beauties, let us know your thoughts on the reboot, did you absolutely love it? Is there anything you would have changed?

And here’s the perfect response for the racist comments:

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