By: Brittney O.
Hip-hopVibe.com Entertainment Editor
Two years ago the Award-winning actress, Viola Davis, spoke among a group of women for a live engaging conversation in Hollywood at the Women in the World Summit. Showing up in all of her truth, The Help actress expressed the hardships that African-American women still face in Hollywood, and breaks her iconic achievements down to the audience — most of these achievements which have yet to result in equal pay or opportunities as the white women actors that share her same credentials.
The video has recently been shared several times by the likes of many celebrities including actress Octavia Spencer, Yvette Nicole Brown, supermodel Naomi Campbell, and even T.I. Harris. The 54-year old shares her impressive career accomplishments which include the rarity of being considered E.G.O.T., an acronym for the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award-winner that quite frankly, not many will ever achieve. There are only 23 actors who have received the rare distinction of winning in all four in the highly competitive industry, with Davis being one of them.
Davis speaks with passion as she says:
“I got the Oscar, I got the Emmy, I got the two Tonys. I’ve done Broadway, I’ve done Off-Broadway, I’ve done TV, I’ve done film, I’ve done all of it. I have a career that is [probably] comparable to Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Sigourney Weaver… They all came out of Yale. They came out of Julliard. They came out of NYU. They had the same path as me and yet, I am nowhere near them.
Not as far as money, not as far as job opportunities, nowhere close to it. But I have to get on that phone and people say ‘You’re a black Meryl Streep.'”
The timing of her speech could not come at a better time, as the country is in turmoil trying to configure and compromise the unfair and poor treatment that has been placed upon African-Americans in every industry across the board. Many are continuing to share the video as the actress goes on to say:
“You pay me what I’m worth. You give me what I’m worth.”
The clip was pulled from a 30-minute discussion that Davis had as a guest speaker as she spoke on several important topics and issues seen in the entertainment industry that women face. Social media simply shared one clip.
Below we have shared the full interview.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXI5eXBZoZs&w=877&h=493]
