This Week in White Supremacy #147: Shonda Rhimes Is Ready to “Own Her S***”: The Game-Changing Showrunner on Leaving ABC, “Culture Shock” at Netflix and Overcoming Her Fears

Hollywood Reporter – Shonda Rhimes was tired of the battles. She was producing some 70 hours of annual television in 256 territories; she was making tens of millions of dollars for herself and more than $2 billion for Disney, and still there were battles with ABC. They’d push, she’d push back. Over budget. Over content. Over an ad she and the stars of her series — Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder — made for then-presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

She knew her breaking point would come, but what it would be she never could have predicted. As part of her ABC relationship, Rhimes had been given an all-inclusive pass to Disneyland — and without a partner, she’d negotiated a second for her nanny. But on this day, she needed one for her sister, too, as she’d be taking Rhimes’ teenage daughter while the nanny chaperoned her younger two. If the passes had been interchangeable, Rhimes would have been happy to give up hers — when would she have time to go to Disneyland anyway?

After some unwanted back-and-forth — “We never do this,” she was told more than once — Rhimes was issued an additional pass. But when her daughters arrived in Anaheim, only one of the passes worked. Rhimes lobbed a call to a high-ranking executive at the company. Surely, he would get this sorted.

Instead, the exec allegedly replied, “Don’t you have enough?”

Rhimes was beside herself. She thanked him for his time, then hung up and called her lawyer: Figure out a way to get her over to Netflix, or she’d find new representatives.

What happened next transformed not simply Rhimes’ career but the television industry at large.

Read more on Hollywood Reporter https://bit.ly/3mbEG9g


THE GOOD NEWS FIRST:

  • Dave Zirin on Twitter: “It’s October 16th, 2020. That means today is the 52nd anniversary of the moment when John Carlos and Tommie Smith raised their fists to the heavens – and Peter Norman stood in solidarity – at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. (1/2) https://bit.ly/3ko7Wcu
  • Channing Dungey Named Chairman of Warner Bros. TV Group | Hollywood Reporter https://bit.ly/2Tg9Fo3
  • Film historian Jacqueline Stewart joins the Academy Museum – Los Angeles Times https://lat.ms/2ThRw9x
  • For first time, heads of all California’s public education systems are Black or Latino | EdSource https://bit.ly/31A5Q1D

AND NOW THE NEWS RELATED TO WHITE SUPREMACY:

  1. Denaturalization Is a Voter Suppression Tactic Under Trump | Time https://bit.ly/3jkLTSz
  2. After Trump’s Covid-19 diagnosis, anti-Asian tweets and conspiracies rose 85%: report https://nbcnews.to/34mvcBT
  3. Ann Morning on Twitter: “Amy Coney Barrett on her white kids: “smart,” “math gene,” likely to go to law school. On her black kids: he is “happy-go-lucky” and she “deadlifts as much as the male athletes.”” / Twitter https://bit.ly/3knH4t4
  4. Ethical Society of Police – ESOP on Twitter: “Newport News VA Chief Steve Drew and officers push and teargassed nonviolent BLM protesters but offer chocolate milk and a sound system to a ”Boogaloo Boy” as a peace offering. This organization has numerous members charged w/hate crimes and murdering law enforcement in the US.” / Twitter https://bit.ly/3jn7Dgz
  5. Brett Kelman on Twitter: “I just voted. As I cast my ballot, I think of Guam, my former home, where about 150,000 Americans are denied this vote. Why? In 1901 the Supreme Court said Guam’s “alien race” couldn’t comprehend “Anglo-Saxon principles.” It’s been 119 years, and this racism is still the law.” / Twitter https://bit.ly/3jqJohA
  6. Courts’ Republican Appointees Are Dismantling Voting Rights: Study | HuffPost https://bit.ly/2HxHnmk
  7. Dr Alex on Twitter: “Had my first patient refuse to see me because I’m Chinese. Insisted on a White team. Seniors were amazing and stood up for me; the zero tolerance was made clear. Still a really bitter pill to swallow… #MedTwitter #FY1” / Twitter https://bit.ly/3ko8a3k
  8. Student only identified as ‘black guy’ in high school yearbook https://bit.ly/2HqTzWn
  9. Lawyers say they can’t find the parents of 545 migrant children separated by Trump administration https://nbcnews.to/31A5S9L
  10. Supreme Court Reinstates Alabama’s Ban on Curbside Voting – WSJ https://on.wsj.com/3oh3xKH

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