Kerry Washington’s starring role on the hit ABC drama “Scandal” has launched her career into the stratosphere and made her character, Olivia Pope, one of TV’s hottest characters, thanks to her fictional love affair with the president of the United States. But while many fans and stars have complained that they wish the fictional President Fitzgerald Grant was black, Washington recently claimed that she would not have done the show if that had been the case.
“I was a little concerned,” Washington said in a recent interview with Ebony. “I thought, ‘If the president on the show is black, I will not do the show.’ ”
Now, before you jump to any hasty conclusions about Washington’s words, the actress explains that it’s her association with the real-life President Barack Obama that gave her cause for concern.
Beyond her acting career, Washington is one of Hollywood’s most noted political activists, having worked alongside President Obama during both of his election campaigns. And, according to Washington, she was worried that had the show’s president been black, she would have damaged both her and President Obama’s reputation.
“I didn’t want to do anything that compromised my relationship with the [president] or that made it seem like I had an insider view on the Obama presidency,” she explained. “I thought that would be so disrespectful and so against the work that I had done.”
Well, some fans may not get the black president they want on “Scandal,” but there have certainly been other notable black presidents on TV and movie screens. Check out some famed fictional black presidents below. –nicholas robinson
