Viola Davis scorched for her portrayal of Michelle Obama in ‘The First Lady’

By Terry Shropshire
Apr 18, 2022
9:16 am

For one of the few times in her highly decorated career, Viola Davis was panned by the critics for her portrayal of Michelle Obama in the much-anticipated Showtime series “The First Lady.”

To be clear, these were social media critics who were dishing out brutal assessments of Davis‘ facial expressions as she tried to convey some of Obama’s emotions. Black Twitter also mocked the eyebrow pencil that was applied on Davis that some fans believed was too pronounced and looked weird.

Even Davis, who is the first Black actor to ever win the “triple crown of acting” ± an Oscar (Fences), an Emmy (“How to Get Away With Murder”), and two Tony awards (Fences and King Hedley II), to go along with a Golden Globe (Fences) — was nevertheless extremely nervous about playing as beloved a dignitary as the former first lady.

Perhaps some of Davis’ nervousness seeped to the surface. Or perhaps the direction and script were of suspect quality. Rotten Tomatoes, the famous group of movie critics, gave the series just a 40 percent out of 100.

But some fans were overly dramatic in their critiques of Davis.

Viola Davis might be going to hell Idk pic.twitter.com/poa2ebOrKc

— Ms. Honey Comb (@1bighairedbitch) April 17, 2022

AIN’T NO WAY?? 💀
michelle watching
viola play her like: pic.twitter.com/PYlACFph4z

— 🌬️CARIANNA🌾 (@cari_mclellan) April 17, 2022

i just know viola’s mouth
was bout tired as HELL 😩pic.twitter.com/M94mZV7gca

— 🌬️CARIANNA🌾 (@cari_mclellan) April 17, 2022

Viola's lips when they finished shooting the movie pic.twitter.com/Flu6S1o7ZS

— Big Bank (@fruitygangsta) April 17, 2022

Some Twitter users raced to Davis’ defense and reminded cyberspace that Davis is a generational talent and that this movie is not indicative of a career that is one of the greatest of all time.