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Lena Waithe Calls Out The Hollywood Reporter for Ignoring Black TV Shows
"They have ignored our shows for so long, and they act like we don’t even belong in the conversation," the Emmy winner said.
Emmy-winning writer/actor Lena Waithe appeared on The Late Late Show with James Corden to chat about Hollywood, paying the bills of some of her Instagram followers, and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Waithe has several shows on television right now, including BET's Twenties and Showtime's The Chi. Twenties is the first show on television where the main character is a masculine-presenting lesbian woman, and Waithe calls this season of The Chi "the gayest season ever," citing the premiere's wedding between two Black women and the introduction of a transgender character named Jasmine.
However, Waithe thinks Emmy prospects are bleak—not just for her shows, but for all Black television.
"The Hollywood Reporter has some explaining to do," she tells Corden, citing their list of TV/Emmy nominees. "All the Black shows are on the long shot list or a major threat."
She calls out The Hollywood Reporter and other publications like it for not taking Black television seriously.
"Don’t act like Black television is invisible," she says. "That’s up to places like The Hollywood Reporter, and Variety, and all these trades, to not ignore the Insecures, the BlackAFs the Dear White Peoples. They have ignored our shows for so long, and they act like we don’t even belong in the conversation. And I think it’s unfair. I think it’s not cool, and I don’t have any qualms about calling them out on that."
Hopefully Waithe, and her incredible shows, can help change the conversation.
Catch Twenties on BET and The Chi on Showtime, Sundays at 9pm PT. Watch the trailers below!
Taylor Henderson is a PRIDE.com contributor. This proud Texas Bama studied Media Production/Studies and Sociology at The University of Texas at Austin, where he developed his passions for pop culture, writing, and videography. He's absolutely obsessed with Beyoncé, mangoes, and cheesy YA novels that allow him to vicariously experience the teen years he spent in the closet. He's also writing one!
Taylor Henderson is a PRIDE.com contributor. This proud Texas Bama studied Media Production/Studies and Sociology at The University of Texas at Austin, where he developed his passions for pop culture, writing, and videography. He's absolutely obsessed with Beyoncé, mangoes, and cheesy YA novels that allow him to vicariously experience the teen years he spent in the closet. He's also writing one!
