ILOSM fam’ have you ever wondered what it would be like to stand in front of a crowded room and accept an award for your acting /directorial abilities? Yeah, me neither, but for one actress/director, Elizabeth Banks, her recent acceptance speech at the Crystal + Lucy Awards turned into utter chaos for her afterwards…at least after Black Twitter got done with slammin’ her to hell and back.
We’ll get into that in a minute, but first let us inform you of who Elizabeth is (don’t feel bad, I didn’t know who she was until now either). Turns out, Elizabeth is a very popular actress who has also crossed over into the directorial arena and is a self-proclaimed feminist, who loves Hillary Clinton.
The Color Purple?!! Oops…
Now that we’re all caught up, let’s dig into why she should never, ever, EVER try to freestyle anymore of her future acceptance speeches. When Elizabeth won a Crystal + Lucy Award for her directing of the film, Pitch Perfect II, the other day, she decided to put Hollywood on blast about the need for more females calling shots behind the scenes. In doing so, she made the big mistake of dissing The Color Purple movie and every female actress in it, as she was trying to get her point across by dissing Color Purple director, Steven Spielberg. The only problem was she apparently had no clue he directed Color Purple.
On needing more female leads in film Elizabeth stated: “Co-opting men and boys into that process is the only way that progress is going to happen.”
Then came Elizabeth’s diss: “I went to Indiana Jones and Jaws and every movie Steven Spielberg ever made, and by the way, he’s never made a movie with a female lead,” Banks said. “Sorry, Steven. I don’t mean to call (you) out, but it’s true.”
After someone in the audience shouted out that Spielberg did in fact direct a female led film, The Color Purple, her reaction added more insult to injury. Elizabeth Banks totally ignored the comment and kept talking. Many viewers took her silence to acknowledge her mistake as a complete disregard for the legacy of The Color Purple, which grossed $98 million at the box office and was nominated for (and robbed of) ELEVEN Academy Awards. Fans also took her silence and comment as her disregarding the hard work of many Black actresses involved- Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey (‘Sofia’), Margaret Avery (‘Shug Avery’), Rae Dawn Chong (‘Squeak’), Akosua Busia (‘Nettie’), Desreta Jackson (‘young Celie’)and more.
Twitter Fans Clap Back
Needless to say, Black folks went off on Twitter over Elizabeth’s perceived ignorance, insufficient fact-checking, and disrespect of African American heavyweight actresses in the game. Check out the hilarious tweets below:
The Color Purple is looking at @ElizabethBanks like… pic.twitter.com/LRUuXEcJMf
— Jaime Primak (@JaimePrimak) June 15, 2017
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https://twitter.com/freeblackgirl/status/875327736956452865
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Black women are NEVER part of the conversation when White actresses or white women writers talk about women representation in Hollywood. https://t.co/oTRIDhOseM
— FilmFatale_NYC 🇭🇹 🇩🇴 🇺🇸 (@FilmFatale_NYC) June 15, 2017
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Elizabeth Banks said whet?! pic.twitter.com/S7a9JZLp1V
— Shameika 'Check the Rhymes' (@Mofochronicles) June 15, 2017
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https://twitter.com/EricHaywood/status/875340958790852609
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Elizabeth Banks would be outraged if someone erased Hillary Clinton's legacy. But did so with ease when it came to Whoopi Goldberg
— Stephanie. (@qsteph) June 15, 2017
Live look at the TL coming together because of The Color Purple slander pic.twitter.com/7h6KJDP7rk
— Matthew A. Cherry (@MatthewACherry) June 15, 2017
Thoughts ILOSM family?
