I disagree. I don’t think it has anything to do with people not being keen on seeing minorities in their tv shows.
It has to do with the principle of authenticity in the context of honesty. Wokeness isn’t genuine. It feels absolutely un-genuine.
The secret of film (TV or Movies) is that somewhere, somehow, in some way, it has to touch a spark of genuineness in a person watching, no matter how small. But it has to make a connection.
To that person watching, that is the connection point that must exist no matter how minute, to conduct any appreciation or enjoyment.
It is a form of “truth” that forms in them act allows them to enjoy it.
I think that the secret to success is really to get people to be able to reach the point they can enjoy the movie by suspension of belief. Where they start paying attention to the story someone is trying to tell, and to identify with it.
That is why people watch movies.
Wokeness is the polar opposite of authenticity. It is completely false in its premise (that physical “diversity” is far more important than intellectual “diversity”. And I believe every person knows this is true, but to Leftists to whom any means is justified by the ends, that they can lie to themselves about something that fundamental.
So, when someone reads a book, sees a movie, watches a newscast, or hears a speech, the inauthenticity of wokeness overrides anything meaningful that the source might intend to convey. It completely blocks that connection of truth.
And in those who do allow their logic to be overridden by their emotion (the need to belong to the collective) and they allow a Mal-formed connection to be made (such as is seen in Leftists) it creates a cognitive dissonance that ricochets around inside their skulls, knocking out chunks of rationality as it flies about.
That is why I think “normal” people don’t want to watch it. It is fundamentally inauthentic. And who has time to waste on that?
He shared your assessment that these venues are for escapism and audiences strongly resent having ugly reality unexpectantly slapping them in the face when they're trying to relax and have a nice respite away from it. That grandstanding wrestler was both unprofessionally self-important and disrespectful to his industry fellows dedicated to entertaining us.
"Shut Up and Sing" applies, in spirit, to all aspects of entertainment.