Shonda Rhimes is gearing up to make history (again) with the back-to-back premieres of three television dramas on ABC this Thursday.
Leading up to the momentous occasion, fondly referred to by fans as the return of #ShondaThursdays, New York Times critic Alessandra Stanley penned a review of Rhimes’ latest series, starring Viola Davis, How to Get Away With Murder. Unfortunately for Stanley, Rhimes wasn’t too fond of her take on her growing empire.
Stanley’s first sentence of the review reads: “When Shonda Rhimes writes her autobiography, it should be called ‘How to Get Away With Being an Angry Black Woman.’”
The next sentence wasn’t much better: “On Thursday, Ms. Rhimes will introduce How to Get Away With Murder, yet another network series from her production company to showcase a powerful, intimidating Black woman.”
It’s easy to imagine why Rhimes may have taken issue with the piece — for starters the How To Get Away creator is a white man — but in true Shonda fashion, she went ahead and made her thoughts clear to us on Twitter.
Confused why @nytimes critic doesn’t know identity of CREATOR of show she’s reviewing. @petenowa did u know u were “an angry black woman”?
— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) September 19, 2014
Apparently we can be “angry black women” together, because I didn’t know I was one either! @petenowa #LearnSomethingNewEveryday
— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) September 19, 2014
Final thing: (then I am gonna do some yoga): how come I am not “an angry black woman” the many times Meredith (or Addison!) rants? @nytimes
— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) September 19, 2014
Wait. I’m” angry” AND a ROMANCE WRITER?!! I’m going to need to put down the internet and go dance this one out. Because ish is getting real.
— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) September 19, 2014
Well there you have it. How many reporters does Shonda Rhimes have to check before they realize she’s not one to play with?