'General Hospital' Star's Twitter Meltdown: When White Privilege Tries to Interrupt Greatness

Poor Nancy Lee Grahn. It must be hard to not know that you’re a closeted racist, and then the Internet gives you a rude awakening. The General Hospital star basically ended any peace she would be enjoying on her Sunday evening when she tweeted her dislike of Viola Davis’ incredible and inspirational acceptance speech. Davis had just made history as the first African-American woman to win for Lead Actress in a Drama.

I wish I loved #ViolaDavis Speech, but I thought she should have let @shondarhimes write it. #Emmys

— Nancy Lee Grahn (@NancyLeeGrahn) September 21, 2015

 

Umm…

 

Viola Davis winning lead actress Emmy’s historic. My upset is acting awards dont fix racial injustice. As an actor I see how irrelevant we r

— Nancy Lee Grahn (@NancyLeeGrahn) September 21, 2015

 

I never mean to diminish her accomplishment. I wish I could get her roles. She is a goddess. I want equality 4 ALL women, not just actors.

— Nancy Lee Grahn (@NancyLeeGrahn) September 21, 2015

 

I apologize 2 anyone who I offended. I’m women advocate since I became one. After reading responses, I hear u and my tweet was badly phrased

— Nancy Lee Grahn (@NancyLeeGrahn) September 21, 2015

 

I apologize for my earlier tweets and now realize I need to check my own privilege. My intention was not to (cont) http://t.co/uyre6WPeeH

— Nancy Lee Grahn (@NancyLeeGrahn) September 21, 2015

   

30 yrs an advocate 4 human rights & now i’m a racist. Color me heartbroken. Twitter can bring out the best & sadly tonight the worst of us.

— Nancy Lee Grahn (@NancyLeeGrahn) September 21, 2015

 

 

 

 

 

Although Grahn apologized profusely, she also said:

@MelioraEsq and i heard harriet yTubman and I thought Its a fucking emmy for gods sake. She wasnt digging thru a tunnel

— Nancy Lee Grahn (@NancyLeeGrahn) September 21, 2015

 

 

 

 

And in a deleted tweet, the soap opera actress said, “Im a f*****g actress for 40 yrs. None of us get respect or opportunity we deserve. Emmys not venue 4 racial opportunity. ALL women belittled.”

 

Black Twitter immidiately swooped in and their clapback game was, of course, relentless.

.@NancyLeeGrahn, you aren’t being honest. You saw Viola’s color enough to say that she didn’t speak for “all” women. https://t.co/MdMvozAtTG

— deray mckesson (@deray) September 21, 2015

     

@NancyLeeGrahn Why didn’t you say all of this when all the white women tonight won their awards? Not a peep when they got on stage.

— Sherm (@shermjanae) September 21, 2015

 

 

 

 

 

.@NancyLeeGrahn it’s not just about Viola winning the Emmy. It’s about representation for black girls who need to see themselves as more

— Franchesca Ramsey (@chescaleigh) September 21, 2015

 

 

 

The veteran actress, who is best known for her role as Alexis Cassadine on General Hospital, later deleted her more offensive tweets, and apologized. The damage had already been done. And the apologies kept coming. “How many different ways should I apologize?” she wrote. “Mea culpa. Mea Culpa.” Perhaps next time you can check your white privilege at the door, and as this Twitter user so eloquently put it, #StayinYourLaneNancy

 

 

@NancyLeeGrahn pic.twitter.com/kGXmC55slW

— L. (@_likelsd) September 21, 2015