When Tiffany Haddish won the Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, many of her followers showered her with kind words and praise. But now she’s being slammed for the way she answered a reporter’s question on diversity.
“The opening was great with all the talks of diversity and how its the most diverse group of nominees ever,” the reporter began.
“But Twitter right now kind of seems to have a backlash about how there have only been white winners tonight, and how we still have so far to go, and how we have so many wonderful actors and writers in the categories that were nominated,” she added. “Do you have thoughts of how we could kind of get to that next hurdle?”
“Girl, no. I don’t know how to do that, and I didn’t go to college for that,” Haddish answered. “I didn’t go to college at all, nor do I know how to solve problems like that. If you was asking me how to structure a joke, I could help you with that part.”
“But what you talking about now, I don’t know,” she added. “I don’t know. All I know is how to do my job. That’s somebody else’s job. I don’t know that. Can’t answer that for you, but I won.”
Once her response hit the Internet, people said the actress should’ve answered the question directly, and she missed a big opportunity to initiate change.
“Ugh, just because you’re from the hood [doesn’t] mean you [don’t] have any common sense,” one person wrote. “She could have said more diverse writers and creators. That is it.”
“This answer was the most ghetto sh– I’ve ever seen in my life,” another person commented.
Some also said Haddish’s response is an example of how she likes to play up to Black stereotypes, and how Hollywood loves her for it.
“Tiffany Haddish isn’t tired of fulfilling Hollywood’s loud, ignorant, Black woman narrative yet?” someone asked.
But there were others who defended the “Night School” actress and said it’s not her place to speak on such weighty topics.
“What happened in that moment is typical,” one person tweeted. “Folks wanting a quick answer [and] fix to a systematic problem without having to actually hire someone to do the work.”
“I’m not interested whether you think Tiffany Haddish’s response was to your liking,” wrote someone else. “I’m tired of people of color creatives being asked this question. Keep that same energy for the white creatives and gatekeepers in Hollywood responsible.”
Haddish has yet to respond to the backlash.
