Shonda Rhimes fumed at New York Times television critic Alessandra Stanley last week when the journalist called her an "angry black woman" in a piece about the upcoming ABC crime drama, "How to Get Away With Murder."
The line that set off Rhimes, the creator of such hits as "Grey's Anatomy" and "Scandal," was Stanley's opener: "When Shonda Rhimes writes her autobiography, it should be called 'How to Get Away With Being an Angry Black Woman.'"
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"Ms. Rhimes has embraced the trite but persistent caricature of the Angry Black Woman, recast it in her own image and made it enviable," Stanley wrote for The Times. "She has almost single-handedly trampled a taboo even Michelle Obama couldn't break."
Rhimes immediately pounced on Stanley's categorization of her in a rebuke on social media, noting that she is the show's executive producer. The creator is Pete Nowalk.
Rhimes' argument found plenty of support, with "Scandal" star Kerry Washington and writers from Slate and Vox coming to her defense.
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