Scott Feinberg is a skilled, popular TV and film columnist for The Hollywood Reporter. I've been reading his column for years. A few times -- very few -- have I found a criticism of his to be a bit off or just downright tone deaf. His review today of last night's Emmy Awards show on NBC is such a case. I got irritated reading it because it made me wonder -- yet again -- if established white critics, critics who consider themselves liberal in their work, really have a knowledge of Black actors, their history, the history of racial images in Hollywood, and the lack of diversity in the entertainment industry that has long blocked Black talent from being privileged with equal opportunities and equal pay.
Within the last two years, the Emmy Awards had been criticized for its lack of Black/Latino nominees. Was last night's Emmys show perfect? No. And I did not expect it to be. But significant history was made. I saw the magnificent Sheryl Lee Ralph in the original Broadway cast of the hit musical, DREAMGIRLS. I watched her on the TV sitcom MOESHA. I've seen her in films. I interviewed her once of live TV about her years of tireless activism ranging in issues from AIDS awareness to voting rights. Last night, Sheryl Lee Ralph won an Emmy for her work on the smart, sophisticated, relevant ABC sitcom, ABBOTT ELEMENTARY. She plays the wise veteran schoolteacher who knows how to deal with the self-absorbed and clueless principal while doling out advice to the young, new teachers, She's the voice of reason working with a principal whose life goals included being on THE BACHEORLETTE and was known to push grade schoolers out of the way during a fire drill.
Sheryl Lee Ralph is the second Black woman in TV history to win the Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. The first was Jackee Harry for the 227 sitcom 35 years ago. In her glowing praise and congratulations on Twitter last night following Ms. Ralph's victory, Jackee Harry revealed that NBC originally wanted Sheryl Lee Ralph for the role Ms. Harry got on the 1985-1990 sitcom.
Sheryl Lee Ralph's win got a standing ovation, and her acceptance speech was one of the highlights of the show. Her speech was a lead story today in the first 10 minutes of the CBS MORNINGS 2-hour telecast.
Critic Scott Feinberg wrote: "A few thoughts on a bungled telecast packed with repeat winners from the same handful of shows that TV Academy members have recognized before..."
Quinta Brunson, the wonderful creator/star of ABBOTT ELEMENTARY, also won an Emmy. She is the second Black woman in TV history to win an Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series.
We are well into the sixth paragraph of Feinberg's column before those two accomplished women get a mention in his review and that brief mention does not include the broadcast history they made.
I wondered about the knowledge of Black entertainment history that white TV & film journalists have. Here's an example: ABC entertainment news anchor, Chris Connelly, and Jess Cagle, highly regarded and handsome Editor-in-Chief of People magazine, were live on ABC's GOOD MORNING AMERICA to await the list of Oscar nominees for 2017. Two white critics and good men. The nominations were announced and both men commented on the umpteenth Oscar nomination Meryl Streep received. Neither Connelly nor /Cagle remarked that, with her Best Supporting Actress nomination for FENCES, Viola Davis had just become the most Oscar-nominated Black actress in Hollywood history. It was her third nomination. Neither mentioned that her co-star, Denzel Washington, continued his reign as the most Oscar-nominated Black actor in Hollywood history. FENCES earned him his seventh nomination for acting. Not only that -- Denzel Washington directed FENCES and got a producer nomination for being one of the FENCES producers which got an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.
As I've written repeatedly in previous posts, White TV journalists never, ever dug into the story of why the TV field of film critics, whether single or in duos, were predominately white for decades. From the days of the groundbreaking Siskel & Ebert rean in the 1980s, Joel Siegel on ABC's GOOD MORNING AMERICA, Gene Shalit on the TODAY Show, Leonard Maltin on ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT, Rex Reed, Jeffrey Lyons, Richard Roeper, down to the syndicated team of Ben Mankiewicz and Ben Lyons (young son of Jeffrey Lyons) in 2008...that national TV gig was dominated by White dudes praising and recommending films such as THE COLOR PURPLE, DO THE RIGHT THING, BOYS N THE HOOD, THE HELP and 12 YEARS A SLAVE. I can tell you that there were often times when I felt like the Rosa Parks of critics' screenings in Manhattan for upscale films. I was the only Black person in the room.
And the White film critics -- who also considered themselves to be liberal in their viewpoints and were quick to note racial discrimination and oppression in the stories of films they praised -- were always oddly silent about the lack of racial inclusion in their own field. They rarely -- if ever -- spoke out about the need for critics of color to be seen in the national TV or print spotlight. They never asked why there was such as lack of Black critics in attendance at the annual New York Film Critics Circle awards dinner. They never investigated a story like the severe lack of Black agents in top entertainment agencies, a lack that impacted the lack of opportunities and representation for Black talent. Did you see the one Black agent at a prestigious agency that Kevin Hart played in the Chris Rock show biz satire TOP FIVE (2014)? As a former client of the William Morris Agency, I can report that Hart's performance as a frustrated agent was funny and totally accurate. So was all of Robert Townsend's 1987 satire, HOLLYWOOD SHUFFLE. I left William Morris because I tired of my White agent submitting me to play Black thugs and homeboy hoods after my years as a celebrity talk show host on VH1 with A-list film, stage, TV, music and literary guests. To name a few -- Kirk Douglas, Meryl Streep, Hume Cronyn & Jessica Tandy, Paul McCartney, Carlos Santana, Joan Baez, Raul Julia, Spike Lee, James L. Brooks, Sally Field, Whoopi Goldberg, Fran Lebowitz, Norman Mailer and Dominick Dunne. The straw that broke this camel-of-color's back was when he submitted to play a wacky Black thug in the 1993 sequel to WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S. The role, written by a white man, would've required me to perform voodoo on the comedy corpse with boombox music and a bucket of fried chicken in the men's room of a Times Square porno movie theater. That scene is in the movie.
I say "Brava, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Quinta Brunson!" I bow to and recognize the history you made at this year's Emmy Awards with your victories. I wish Scott Feinberg had fully recognized your history too. I am thrilled that ABBOTT ELEMENTARY will be back soon for its second season.
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