Shonda Rhimes Is Done Talking About Diversity Because ‘This Is Not the Jim Crow South’

By Vivian Kane | Miscellaneous | April 14, 2015 |

Yesterday Shonda Rhimes was inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters’ Hall of Fame. In explaining why Rhimes was getting this honor, NAB’s president cited her engaging characters and story lines, and credits her with keeping network television exciting. And while she does do all of this, most of us know her for something else: for her dedication to diversity in her programs. And Shonda Rhimes is here to let us know that that is bullshit. Shonda is done talking about diversity. You know why? Because it’s f*cking 2015, and “diverse” is just what we call things that look like real life, so maybe if we stop acting like it’s some big achievement to make TV look like life, we’ll stop seeing it as a miracle.

Everyone makes a big deal about how I broke all these barriers in terms of diversity, so I know that I have to talk about it.

In Shondaland, our shows look like how the world looks. Everyone can see themselves when they turn on the TV on Thursday nights on ABC. To me, that was not some difficult, brave, special decision I made. It was a human one, because I am a human. It wasn’t something we had to bravely fight for, because ABC is also full of humans.

This is not the Jim Crow south. We’re not ignorant, so why wouldn’t we do that? I still can’t believe I get asked about it all the time, as if being normal, TV looking like the normal world, is an innovation.

You’d think people would be embarrassed to think so— embarrassed to ask the question in the 21st Century.

So write about that. Write about the people asking the questions, because I’m busy talking about something else, writing about something else.

Here’s the video of Rhimes’ acceptance speech from the NAB ceremony.