Kerry Washington Covers Ebony, Wouldn’t Play Olivia If Fitz Was Black
Kerry Washington is on the cover of the March 2013 edition of Ebony which hit the newstands earlier this week.
In the interview she talks about taking the role as Olivia on Scandal. Washington admits that she wouldn’t have done the show if the president on the show was black stating:
“I thought, If the president on the show is Black, I will not do the show. Because to me, it was too important a moment. I didn’t want to do anything that compromised my relationship with the [president] or that made it seem like I had an insider view on the Obama presidency.
I thought that would be so disrespectful and so against all the work that I had done.”
Perfectly understandable reasoning, but its a bit of a shock to hear at first. She also talks about playing a strong, flawed woman:
In her professional life, she is so powerful and is this self-made woman…But in [Olivia’s] personal life, she is a mess and I kind of love that…I love that I get to embody all of that complexity because I also think it takes a certain level of progress for us to have a Black Woman that powerful be an emotional mess on television.
Watch a video from her modelling for her Ebony cover shoot:
