Last night (9/20) the world applauded actress Viola Davis as she became the first Black woman to ever win the Emmy for Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series. Her acceptance speech went viral as she quoted Harriet Tubman and shouted out other Black actresses for "taking us over that line" Tubman couldn't cross in her lifetime.
As expected, some took to social media to share their distaste for her speech. Surprisingly, however, soap opera star Nancy Lee Grahn of General Hospital fame just happened to be "cooking and heard it" when she bashed Davis for making it about Black women. "I wish I loved #ViolaDavis Speech, but I thought she should have let @shondarhimes write it. #Emmys," Grahn tweeted out.
The seemingly innocent tweet got Grahn slandered on social media, leaving the soap actress to spend most of her night responding to Twitter hecklers. "I wish I'd opportunity to play roles she has gets [sic]," she told one commentator. When another mentioned her in a tweet with one from Shonda Rhimes where she wrote "I love hearing [Viola] speak," Grahn responded with "I do 2. I think she's the bees knees but she's elite of TV performers. Brilliant as she is. She has never been discriminated against."
The matter only got worse as Grahn continued tweeting, swearing at her followers as she tried her best to prove she's not a racist. "30 yrs an advocate 4 human rights & now i'm a racist," she wrote. "I honestly didnt even care that much I was cooking and heard it and went oh lord ur a great actress just accept it and I heard harriet Tubman and I thought Its a f***ing emmy for gods sake. She wasnt digging thru a tunnel." The actress then went on to say that for years she's defended "their right to be respected" as she continued to apologize. "I feel betrayed by ppl I would've marched for."
View all of Grahn's tweet in the gallery.
