Sheryl Lee Ralph opened up about how she lost a job because she didn’t act “Black” enough.
In an exclusive clip from the June 19 episode of E!’s Black Pop: Celebrating the Power of Black Culture, the Abbott Elementary star talked about how she was fired because she didn’t act in accordance with how a producer felt she should act as a Black person.
“It was a spinoff of Sanford and Son and they cast men and I was there one day and my agent said, ‘I really hate to say this, but they said you weren’t Black enough,’ and I was fired,” she said. “I called the producer and I said, ‘Can I try to be Black?’ She said laughing at herself. “Oh my God,” she added.
The clip focuses on how Black actors were often asked to act “Black,” as in a stereotype of Blackness. Black actors were often judged on how stereotypically Black they could act, and as the clip shows, Hollywood could launch or negatively affect your career based on how much Black actors could act like what white executives expected them to act like.
Ralph also talked about the experience last year with People, saying that the experience was “horrible.”
“I can still remember the way it felt,” she added. “People’s thinking was not very inclusive. You [had] directors who were still trying to tell you how to be Black.”
Black Pop: Celebrating the Power of Black Culture is executive produced by Stephen Curry and narrated by LaLa Anthony. The TV event spans two nights, deep-diving into the impacts of Black culture on American media and American culture. The episode featuring Ralph, “Black Pop: Television,” airs June 19 at 9 p.m. and follows the history of some of the most notable Black series in American culture. According to the official description:
Although the impact of the Black experience on TV is undeniable, it took a beat to get there. This episode looks at that journey through the comedy gold in classics such as Good Times and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, the brilliance of Living Single, Scandal, Insecure, Pose and the modern-day laughs of Abbott Elementary. It’s a joyful celebration of Black America’s unapologetic presence on the small screen and the road to authentic representation.