Nancy Lee Grahn Pulls an #AllLivesMatter in Wake of Viola Davis’ Historic Emmy Win
Nancy Lee Grahn Pulls an #AllLivesMatter in Wake of Viola Davis’ Historic Emmy Win
By: Kirsten West Savali
Posted: Sept. 22 2015 3:00 AM
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2015/09/nancy_lee_grahn_pulls_an_alllivesmatter_in_wake_of_viola_davis_historic.html
Miscellaneous-daytime-drama actress Nancy Lee Grahn wants the world to know that the Emmys are no place to discuss the marginalization of black actresses in Hollywood, because all women are discriminated against, and "dramatic" race talk distracts from the bigger picture.
As previously reported by The Root, Grahn made these ridiculously racist statements on Twitter in the wake of Viola Davis' historic win for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Annalise Keating on ABC’s How to Get Away With Murder. Davis became the first black actress to win the award and, in a powerful acceptance speech, paid homage to other black leading ladies paving the way, while also tackling the institutionalized racism that shapes and shades Hollywood.
"The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity," Davis said. "You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there."
Minutes after the speech, Grahn cried the whitest tears imaginable, ripped Davis' speech to shreds and attempted to center her whiteness in one of the blackest moments in Emmy history:
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2015/09/nancy_lee_grahn_pulls_an_alllivesmatter_in_wake_of_viola_davis_historic.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
I stole this from MO a long time ago.
Hey MOrpheus where are you??? I miss you.
I'm so frustrated with the things that have been going on here.
But nothing I have to say at the moment is going to add anything constructive to the conversation.
Sooo... I just read and shake my head and toss an occasional PM.
Most nights, I just read this "ish" looking just like:
Whiskey Included.
Ha! Love that gif~
I hear ya, this place is indeed frustrating. I have been posting on another site that is great. Some excellent conversations and insight. However, I love so many of the peeps here, I can't completely stay away.
Good to see you, MOrpheus.
I'd love to see that exchange. It sounds crazy!
I don't have a ton of posts, but I've spent many of them just trying to combat some truly stupid stuff. I'm mostly over it, though...
I remain a lurker because this place is actually a great news aggregator for me. And this forum, keeps me sane (mostly).
Past that, I've written off many people here this cycle as
because, as my grandmother used to tell me, "you can't fix stupid".
Not only will they check your shit, but they will screen grab it for posterity and never let you forget your stupidity or how well you got your shit checked. 
Grahn eventually offered a half-assed nonapology, and when it wasn't immediately accepted, she propped herself up as a victim of an "ambush" by black people who were too "mean" to realize that she was sincere. After all, she's "spent [her] life advocating 4 equal rights 4 all human beings." In her liberal white world, any racial blindspots she has should be excused. It wasn't long before her self-imposed period of flimsy contrition disintegrated under the weight of black Twitter's pushback, and Grahn tweeted that she had been "betrayed by people [she] would have marched for."
Here's the thing: Grahn apologized for being misunderstood, not for the racist nature of her tweets. Apparently, mocking Davis' ceiling-shattering win and her road to get there was not the soap actress's intent, though all tweets point to the contrary. She just didn't want viewers to forget about the poor, marginalized white women who also have it rough, and Davis' one-minute speech threatened to minimize their suffering.
See how erasure works, how centering whiteness comes as natural to people like Grahn as breathing? It is instinctive.
Not once did she acknowledge that she was wrong and that black actresses have never had an advantage over white actresses. Never. She didn't apologize for diminishing the fact that roles for women of color in notoriously white Hollywood are scarce. Instead, she played the tiniest violin imaginable because Shonda Rhimes hasn't written a plum role for her, doubled down on her resentment that Davis dared to place her win in the turbulent historical context it deserves and repeatedly talked about how she's been "there for" black people for at least three decades.
Sorry about the bolding. I know, overdone. It stoppped me from saying what a piece of fucking asshole racist crap Grahn was saying. Ooop, guess I did it anyway.
Viola! You Rock!
Why are black people so MEAN???! She would have marched for us! She could have shown how much she luuuurrrves us and would have marched if only racism against black people still existed!!
You are so uppity. I will add the ~
just in case.
|
Glad you and starry and muriel were on this jury. This time. 
But, that's just me. I just never saw the magic???
I don't have a clue who Grahn is and I sure as heck don't want to know now. 
Ah, here we go 
lol I shook my head again when one of her tweets in the midst of her dismissal of the struggle of Black women to get roles in Hollywood she wished 'shondra' would write her a role. No seriously.
Dense as a rock.
