“Thank god that Shonda Rhimes had this agenda to make television look like life, to make it look like the real world,” Grey’s Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo said at BuzzFeed Brews with Facebook Live. “Let’s just get past diversity being a couple of black people in a show.”
Ellen Pompeo, Kerry Washington, Viola Davis, and Kate Aurthur at BuzzFeed Brews with Facebook Live at The Sayers Club in Hollywood on Wednesday, Sept. 10.
Macey J. Foronda/BuzzFeed
Since the premiere of Grey's Anatomy on ABC more than a decade ago, creator Shonda Rhimes has been lauded for putting together a cast that actually resembles the world in which we live, at least in terms of racial diversity.
At a BuzzFeed Brews with Facebook Live event in Hollywood on Wednesday, the star of Grey's Anatomy, Ellen Pompeo, sat beside the actresses who lead Rhimes' other ABC dramas — Kerry Washington of the hugely popular Scandal and Viola Davis of the upcoming How to Get Away With Murder — and was asked about what it's been like to be a part of the shift away from all-white television casts.
"It's been incredible to be a part of the change in television," Pompeo said, admitting she was nervous to answer the question. "This has been an incredible ride and thank god that Shonda Rhimes had this agenda to make television look like life, to make it look like the real world. And finally, the networks, who are operating on a completely archaic system, once something succeeds and makes money, [they realize], Oh, what a brilliant idea that is. Let's give a black woman a job. Because there's no black women in the world, so why would you ever think of that before?" she questioned angrily and sarcastically. "All of sudden, Oh, black women can make money, too? Oh. OK. Well, let's fill up the screen. It's such an outdated, archaic system. Thank god for Shonda Rhimes, because, you know, without her wisdom and wit and creativity behind it, giving it the right stage, they just don't see it."
Pompeo went on to thank Washington for her part in making sure people watched the show that really pushed the boundaries that much further, Rhimes' follow-up ABC series, Scandal. "Thank god for Kerry because Kerry was so instrumental in making Scandal what it is… It was really Kerry's whole political side that she pushed that through and she made people watch and she made people pay attention and she was like, 'Everyone is going to see this show,'" Pompeo said passionately. "She took a real leadership role. That is not always easily done… And it worked so brilliantly."
When asked what she imagines it's like for people of color to finally see themselves represented on screen, Pompeo began to get emotional. "I'm so, so often embarrassed, you know. As a white person, I'm so embarrassed. You know, we have a lot to be shameful for," she said, tearing up. "And we can only hope and do everything we can and continue to make strides, because we've done a tremendous amount of damage to people and I've seen it firsthand. We're going to be paying this debt off forever as far as I'm concerned. There's no amount of retribution that's enough in my eyes."
BuzzFeed Brews for Facebook Live
