Nancy Lee Grahn apologises for blasting Viola Davis’ Emmys speech

U.S. soap star Nancy Lee Grahn has apologised for criticising Viola Davis’ moving Emmy Awards acceptance speech after alleging the actress “has never” experienced discrimination.
The Help star made history on Sunday (20Sep15) as the first black woman to win the prize of Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role in How to Get Away with Murder, and she used her speech to highlight the progress the black community has made in Hollywood.
She said, “The only thing that separates women of colour from everyone else is opportunity. You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there. So here’s to all the writers, the awesome people – people who have redefined what it means to be beautiful, to be sexy, to be a leading woman, to be black.”
Davis’ comments earned her a standing ovation at the ceremony, but Grahn wasn’t impressed and suggested the 50 year old should have let her show creator Shonda Rhimes pen her acceptance speech.
The General Hospital regular took to Twitter and wrote, “I wish I loved #ViolaDavis Speech, but I thought she should have let @shondarhimes write it.”
She continued to pick apart Davis’ remarks, claiming the Oscar nominee knows nothing about overcoming discrimination, adding, “I think she’s the bees knees but she’s (the) elite of TV performers. Brilliant as she is. She has never been discriminated against… Try being any woman in TV. Wish she’d brought every woman in the picture. I wish I’d opportunity to play roles she gets (sic).”
Grahn’s posts sparked a backlash among fellow Twitter users and she has since backtracked to clarify her comments.
Returning to the site, she writes, “I apologize for my earlier tweets and now realize I need to check my own privilege. My intention was not to take this historic and important moment from Viola Davis or other women of color but I realize that my intention doesn’t matter here because that is what I ended up doing. I learned a lot tonight and I admit that there are still some things I don’t understand but I am trying to and will let this be a learning experience for me”.
She adds, “30 yrs (sic) an advocate 4 (sic) human rights & now i’m a racist. Color me heartbroken. Twitter can bring out the best & sadly tonight the worst of us.”