When How to Get Away With Murder’s Viola Davis became the first woman of color to win an Emmy for Outstanding Actress in a Drama, she won over the masses with her heartfelt acceptance speech. “Let me tell you something: The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity,” she said. “You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there.”
But not everyone understood what Viola was trying to say. Like Whoopi Goldberg, who seemed rather befuddled. “I’m not sure what it means,” Goldberg told BET of Viola’s speech.“Opportunity to do what?” Apparently, Whoopi believes women of color have always had these opportunities.
“The truth of the matter is there’s been plenty of opportunity. I mean, Scandal. Let’s just start with that. Kerry Washington is there and she’s working her booty off, okay?” she continued. “But they didn’t vote for her. So, maybe the question is, ‘What do you have to do to get voted on?’ That’s the thing…It’s not that the opportunity is not there, because we’ve had lots of opportunities.”
Whoopi doesn’t cosign Viola’s Emmy Speech: “The Truth of the Matter is, there’s been Plenty of Opportunity…” https://t.co/RzRbp8OCAk
— BET (@BET) October 8, 2015
This may be Whoopi’s own reality, but for a lot of other women of color in general it hasn’t been easy to reach the level of their white counterparts. What do you think about Whoopi’s latest affirmation, is the problem a popularity context among votes or simply non-existent chances and privileges? Sound off.