Shonda Rhimes Doesn't Want to Answer Your Questions About Diversity Anymore

When people talk about Shonda Rhimes, way too often, they have to qualify her success with the fact that she is a woman of color. And she's over it.

While accepting her induction into the National Association of Broadcasters' Hall of Fame, Rhimes spoke out against the idea that she should be treated as revolutionary for including all races, genders, sexual orientations, etc. Because that's just how the world is and how it should be.

In Shondaland, our shows look like how the world looks. Everyone can see themselves when they turn on the TV on Thursday nights on ABC. To me that was not some difficult brave special decision I made. It was a human one, because I am a human. It wasn’t something we had to bravely fight for, because ABC is also full of humans. This is not the Jim Crow south. We’re not ignorant, so why wouldn’t we [cast that way]? I still can’t believe I get asked about it all the time, as if being normal, TV looking like the normal world, is an innovation.

Rhimes doesn't feel like she was brave to cast her shows the way she has, just human. “It was a human one, because I am a human," she explained. "It wasn’t something we had to bravely fight for, because ABC is also full of humans.”

Of course, Rhimes has made her feelings about this matter well known. Let's never forget her reaction to that moronic Deadline article that asked if all the trendy diversity on TV would make things hard for white people.

But that's not to say Rhimes isn't happy she's helped open a door for women of color in the industry, something that will be celebrated by next month's "Game Changers" issue of Essence. Rhimes shares the cover with Ava DuVernay, Debbie Allen, Mara Brock-Akil, and Issa Rae.