Schumer, Lena Dunham, Gina Rodriguez, Kate McKinnon and more women in TV industry talk about sexism and racism in Hollywood show business.
- May 28, 2015
AceShowbiz - Amy Schumer, Lena Dunham, Gina Rodriguez, Kate McKinnon, Ellie Kemper and Tracee Ellis Ross open up about their experience working on TV industry in a roundtable discussion held by The Hollywood Reporter. Representing many other women in entertainment, they reveal how sexism is still often found around them.
Dunham says there's a man working with her on "Girls" who refused to take her seriously as creator, writer, producer and star of the show. "I heard a guy on my show say into his microphone: 'I hate this job. I can't wait to be back on a show where there's a man at the helm,' " she recalls. "Later, that same guy came up to me at lunch and said, 'You're really enjoying that buffet, aren't you?' "
The ladies then talk about why women are so absent from late night. "Because we get our periods at night," Schumer quips. She adds, "I think people hate women. I don't think they want to hear a woman talk for too long. A lot of people project their mom yelling at them. My [career] has been about tricking people into listening. I'm not saying all men hate women, but there's such an aggression."
Dunham chimes in, "The idea of risk-taking is terrifying. I love Stephen Colbert, he's a genius, but CBS [couldn't] take the David Letterman slot and hire somebody who represented even an ounce of diversity? Also, when they got James Corden - another guy I love - there was this joke, 'We've run out of white men here, we have to import them from England.' There is no shortage of established women who've been on the comedy circuit for years. It bums me out that someone like Kathy Griffin was relegated to 'Fashion Police'."
Rodriguez shares, "I was up for a role and auditioned in character. They're like, 'We love her. But can she come back in with a tight black dress?' I said, 'That doesn't make any sense for the character.' They were like, 'We need to know if you're pretty enough to be on the cover of a magazine.' "
As a woman comfortable in her own skin, Dunham also reveals that she now gets completedly naked when filming nude scenes on her show. "I stopped wearing the nude patch after the first season of 'Girls'. There's not one guy who works on that show who hasn't seen the inside of my vagina," she says.
Ross, meanwhile, talks about racism in the industry. "Working on a film is one job where you look at a casting breakdown and I'll think, 'That's me!' But she's not supposed to be black," the "Black-ish" star says. Rodriguez echoes Ross' sentiment, saying, "I remove myself instantly if something's perpetuating a stereotype. But the only way to stop stereotypes is to say, 'I'm going to wait for a journey that suits me.' "
