Why Shonda Rhimes "Really Hates the Word, 'Diversity'"

Source: Jordan Strauss/AP

Shonda Rhimes has changed the entire landscape of television. From Grey's Anatomy to How to Get Away with Murder, she has welcomed interracial dating, minorities in leading roles, homosexual love scenes and an overall diverse spectrum of characters into our homes every week. In a speech for The 2015 Human Rights Campaign Gala in Los Angeles, she explained,

"Nothing else provides that singular hum in my brain, that special trip to the imagination. Writing was…well, for me
it was like sitting down at a piano for the first time and realizing that I always knew how to play. Writing was my melody."

Her melodies have inspired an entire generation of viewers and paved the way for even more diversity on television with the musical megahit, Empire, by Lee Daniels. Rhimes delights in her place on primetime and the strides she has made for all people "to turn on the TV and see their tribe." What still baffles her are the repetitive line of questions regarding her focus on diversity.

"I get asked a lot by reporters and tweeters why I am so invested in "diversity" on television. “Why is it so important to have diversity on TV?” they say. “Why is it so challenging to have diversity?” “Why does Cyrus need to be gay?”

I really hate the word “diversity”. It suggests something…other. As if it is something…special. Or rare.

Diversity!

As if there is something unusual about telling stories involving women and people of color and LGBTQ characters on TV.

I have a different word: NORMALIZING.

I’m normalizing TV. I am making TV look like the world looks. Women, people of color, LGBTQ people equal WAY more than 50% of the population. Which means it ain’t out of the ordinary. I am making the world of television look NORMAL."

Her passion for normalising the big picture of our world transcends time. There's layers of dialog she has added for a new generation's ideas to live on in the future. Not even the story's surface was being scratched, but she's faced the issue pragmatically, saving her bold moods for twitter. No, really. Have you seen her Twitter?