Shonda Rhimes Slams Deadline.com Article on 'Ethnic Casting': 'Hell No!'
Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder creator Shonda Rhimes is known for speaking her mind, and, most recently, the folks at Deadline.com learned that first hand. The show-runner recently took to Twitter to share her distaste for an editorial that the publication posted on "Ethnic Castings."
Titled "Pilots 2015: The Year of Ethnic Castings — About Time or Too Much of Good Thing?," the op-ed was published on Tuesday evening (March 24) by Deadline's TV editor. Rhimes's spirited tweets perfectly displayed her sentiments, "1st Reaction: HELL NO. Lemme take off my earrings, somebody hold my purse!" She also added, "2nd Reaction: Article is so ignorant I can't even be bothered."
"Ethnic castings exploded this season... But, as is the case with any sea change, the pendulum might have swung a bit too far in the opposite direction," Deadline's Nellie Andreeva wrote. "Instead of opening the field for actors of any race to compete for any role in a color-blind manner, there has been a significant number of parts designated as ethnic this year, making them off-limits for Caucasian actors, some agents signal."
The piece, mentioning blockbuster shows like Empire, Black-ish and Rhimes's own How to Get Away With Murder, attempted to explain that all roles should be made available to all actors and not just one specific racial group.
Rhimes was not the only one disgusted by the tone and content of the article. Several others including The New Republic's Jamil Smith and BuzzFeed's Kate Arthur called the article "tone deaf," "gross" and "troubling."
The article has not been taken down and currently sits in its entirety on Deadline.com.
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(Photo: Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
