On May 19, 2022, actress Viola Davis let the world know that Black women are still getting the short end of the stick, and race is a big component of that.
During the “Women in Motion” event at the Cannes Film Festival, Davis reveals what a director called her when she was starting out in the entertainment industry, and it was nothing to be excited about.
“He called me Louise,” Davis said at the event. “And I found out it was because his maid’s name was Louise.”
The surprising part is that she had known the director for quite a while before the incident.
“I knew him for 10 years,” Davis said. “I was maybe around 30 at the time. It was a while ago, but what you have to realize is that those microaggressions happen all the time.”
Davis also opened up on if she sees any progress being made within the industry where Black women are able to have the opportunity to star in more roles.
“I know that when I left ‘How to Get Away With Murder’ that I [didn’t] see a lot of dark-skinned women in lead roles on TV and not even in streaming services,” Davis said. “That ties into ideology and ethos and mentality, and that’s speaking in the abstract. Why aren’t you hiring a dark-skinned woman when she walks in the room and you say she blows you away?
“Create space and storytelling for her so when she thrives, she’s not thriving despite of her circumstances but thriving because of her circumstance.”
