Shonda Rhimes Reveals She Left ABC for Netflix After Being Refused Free Disneyland Pass (It was the last of many acts of disrespect)

[theincredibleone]

Hollywood is beyond racist especially to women of color. If you are making a company billions of dollars and have to haggle over basic stuff like this imagine dealing with the network on budgets, pickups, casting and any other number of things. This wouldn't happen to Ryan Murphy or J.J. Abrams.

 

[Royalan]

Hollywood is beyond racist especially to women of color. If you are making a company billions of dollars and have to haggle over basic stuff like this imagine dealing with the network on budgets, pickups, casting and any other number of things. This wouldn't happen to Ryan Murphy or J.J. Abrams.

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And that's ultimately the point of all this, for the people who think this doesn't matter because "lol millionaires."

Yes, Shonda Rhimes is worth over 140 million dollars. Yes, her creative talent brought in 2 billion dollars for ABC/Disney.

And if she, as a Black woman, can be subjected to this kind of treatment, despite her personal worth and everything she's done for the company, imagine how other Black women working for Disney are being treated who don't have anything near Shonda's bargaining power.

 

[Monkey Gland Sauce]

Sometimes I feel like white male be getting off to sticking their heads in the ground and going "nah nah nah nah nah." Its gotta be the only explanation for the blatant ignorance of the black condition.

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As a white male, it's not this. No white male is really passive about this shit. It's coming in and going, "I don't know about this, but let me tell you..." White ignorance doesn't work by ignoring the black condition. It works by re-framing the black condition to fit with what white males already think or want to think. Charles Mills put it best:

White ignorance . . .
It's a big subject. How much time do you have?
It's not enough.
Ignorance is usually thought of as the passive obverse to knowledge,

the darkness retreating before the spread of Enlightenment.​

But . . .
Imagine an ignorance that resists.
Imagine an ignorance that fights back.
Imagine an ignorance militant, aggressive, not to be intimidated,

an ignorance that is active, dynamic, that refuses to go quietly—
not at all confined to the illiterate and uneducated but propagated
at the highest levels of the land, indeed presenting itself unblushingly
as knowledge.​

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​

 

[caliph95]

This is proof that era needs to read beyond the title

This seems so petty on Disney part like she's not hurting for cash and is going to be fine regardless but it's still Disney being dicks

 

[Quacktion]

People not reading the op or what? "Dont you have enough" I would fucking flip as well if I heard that after all this disrespect.

 

[HumanRevolution]

Disney is a despicable company. Ok, it always was but it's getting worse

 

[beelulzebub]

This isn't a matter of penny-pinching to me; this is diva behavior. I'm not familiar with the entertainment biz but I really doubt it was that exec's job to handle Disneyland passes for talent. So yeah, I can see why they'd react poorly.

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I know this conversation you had extended way beyond our exchange here (and I read all of it) but man I can't get over how loaded "diva behavior" feels in this context. She's a woman. A black creator. Someone who made one of the most successful shows of all time. That term just carries so much weight, as if none of that matters to you.

If you didn't know any of that or man it's late and it's almost 3 AM, or whatever it was you said to take some heat off in later replies, then maybe instead don't even start and don't dig in and call a black woman that built a $2 billion empire a diva because Disney was treating her as merely an employee and not a partner in helping build a television empire.

Disney hands passes out to employees. It's a perk of the job and it shouldn't be a big deal or anything that requires escalation. For regular joes like you or me, it'd be like on donut Monday I was told what donuts I could get or that I'd get sass for taking one. Like motherfucker, I can buy my own donut because that's a very small expense, but also fuck you for being that stingy and petty. Just reveals how little they respect you and your contributions.

 

[krazen]

Hollywood is beyond racist especially to women of color. If you are making a company billions of dollars and have to haggle over basic stuff like this imagine dealing with the network on budgets, pickups, casting and any other number of things. This wouldn't happen to Ryan Murphy or J.J. Abrams.

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Yup. If it was a white male exec none of this wouldn't have even been a question. One phone-call and someone's secretary would have moved heaven and earth to have had those tickets there.

Yeah, I get how it looks entitled. But lets act like we've never worked jobs with perks. Even if I had it, id be pissed if I rolled up with my family promising a cool vacay and after all that bullshit and they are asking me to pay like a thousand bucks for all of em to get in, on top of an exec telling me 'We pay you enough, what's the big deal'.

And if they are having a heart attack over free tickets, something that someone else posted is easy to get as a park employee, imagine what bullshit she had to deal with on her actual job.

 

[Shy]

You'd think that almost everyone in here was a Hotep. With the amount of contempt you're all showing for this successful black woman.

But then i remember, it's just the usual, era casual racism.

 

[UltimateHigh]

I guess don't dick around the person who makes you billions of dollars and wins your shitty network awards.

 

[Slayven]

I feel like only white people can come away with the "both sides suck" angle.

It's not about the pass, it's the principle. You think white executives and showrunners need to ask repeatedly for passes to the fucking park? You think those people got dicked around or told, "don't you have enough?" You think Kevin Feige has to ask more than once for as many passes as he likes? You think Chris Evans or RDJ have a pass limit?

Yeah, fuck them. She was right to leave after that.

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Say it again. We know they don't give a fuck about black creators look at Kenya

 

[Thorrgal]

I don't think either party comes across well here. Disney's cheap for not giving out tickets to her family, but it's also ridiculous when super-rich people ask for free shit.

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Yep, I was thinking the same while reading the article...

 

[AtomLung]

Seems petty all around. Just give her the stupid ticket.

 

[gozu]

Imagine an ignorance that resists.
Imagine an ignorance that fights back.
Imagine an ignorance militant, aggressive, not to be intimidated,
an ignorance that is active, dynamic, that refuses to go quietly—
not at all confined to the illiterate and uneducated but propagated
at the highest levels of the land, indeed presenting itself unblushingly
as knowledge.

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Now open your eyes! No need to imagine since you lived through the Trump presidency ;)

SNL did a great skit on something related that I feel I'm going to be posting a lot:

 

[Bus-TEE]

I heard that Netflix built Rhimes not just her own office but her own office building for her production company, complete with a private kitchen where her private chef can make her lunch etc.

Seriously.

 

[teruterubozu]

My wife used to work for Disney. They hand out free passes like flyers. They would have to be extra dicks to not give you one.

 

[Deleted member 5086]

The misogynoir is really jumping out in this thread. We calling Black women divas now, really?

 

[Socivol]

For those saying she could've afforded the ticket, it's not about the ticket is about the lack of respect. I went through something recently like this with a raise and the disrespect was just too much to sit back and stay. When someone is making you billions of dollars you shouldn't have an issue giving up a $154 pass. If you read the article it also states this was the final act of many that drove her away from ABC and I totally see why.

 

[Surakian]

Fuck all of you saying she could have just bought a pass. Disney employees get free passes for themselves already as a part of their employment with the company, and it's so easy to get more. I worked for Disney all of a minute and I managed to get three free passes no problem in that time.

Shonda had it in her contract that she could get free passes for whoever she wanted. She made Disney millions of dollars. They should have been throwing passes at her like candy.

I can assure you they give passes out like candy to their white talent. That executive was being an asshole.

 

[Bus-TEE]

Hollywood is beyond racist especially to women of color. If you are making a company billions of dollars and have to haggle over basic stuff like this imagine dealing with the network on budgets, pickups, casting and any other number of things. This wouldn't happen to Ryan Murphy or J.J. Abrams.

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Exhibit A - Sony Pictures decide to give Paul Feig a gift after he did a project for them, they get him an expensive watch. He phones them the next day and says that he'd rather have the more expensive model than the one they got him. He returns the watch to them and they buy him the even more expensive watch.

Hollywood!

 

[krazen]

Also, "being super rich" doesn't shouldn't make a difference in this case. I would have been pissed too when i worked at a fast food chain as a kid if they charged me full price for a meal when it was company policy we can get discounts and some food free.

Its an odd way to look at it, like yes...I get we are mad in general at the economics of the world but she's still human. Hell she's still an employee and there's a good chance the exec she called makes more money than she does.

 

[Fuu]

interesting story, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/f...ure-shock-at-netflix-and-overcoming-her-fears

its a nice piece on the lady. tbh, i dunno why this thread was made with the context of missing out on a disney pass and not the article on her moving to netflix and making a bunch of stuff that takes years to appear.

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Great article. It's even more interesting if you've watched her MasterClass and knows her process.

 

[BossAttack]

Say it again. We know they don't give a fuck about black creators look at Kenya

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And Rashida Jones. How many black creators have to say the same thing?

 

[ty_hot]

If it was in her contract, then fine, just give it to her. She is right in getting pissed that they didn't give her what she deserved.

 

[Wyze]

I would be pissed if my work made the company billions and the company itself is worth billions, and they cant produce an additional measly all-inclusive pass for a family member.

 

[Lebron]

Some quality "shut up and dribble" talk going on there from Disney and in this thread pointing out that she's rich, who cares. Y'all clowning this ain't had jack all to do with anything but the elephant in the room.

glad Netflix treating her right so far it seems

 

[Zaph]

"don't you have enough?"

Remember black people, if you ever make it in any industry and command a fair market value, there will always, always be resentment.

 

[Nastrodamous]

You people are ridiculous if a manager at your job said "don't you have enough". You would be pissed.

 

[Goat Mimicry]

Someone who made Disney just a million dollars could give out passes to their entire extended family and the company would still make bank even if the people who used them didn't buy any food or merchandise. She made them 2000 times that much. They should have been sending her gift baskets full of the damn things.

The racist morons deserved to lose her.

 

[MonadL]

It seems disrespectful to me that she'd call a high-ranking exec to haggle over a $154 pass. That's a massive waste of someone's time.

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Imagine being this purposely dense.

Then again after the thread where people enjoyed shitting on a black woman who had the temerity to make a good living for herself, I shouldn't be surprised.

 

[Biske]

It's amazing how are the root of everything is still human pettiness.

Billions and billions of dollars between then at such a small thing can even be a blip. Says it all about humanity

 

[Yasuke]

I'm not judging the black creative more harshly than I am the billion dollar corporation, but rich people asking for free shit will never sit right with me, either. I don't care if it's Shonda or the latest MCU actor. Shut up and buy your own passes.

It seems disrespectful to me that she'd call a high-ranking exec to haggle over a $154 pass. That's a massive waste of someone's time.

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Like, honestly.

We're talking pennies here. To everyone involved.

 

[caliph95]

Also again it's not about the ticket the ticket was the final straw she didn't leave over the ticket it was just an example of tension and conflict between Rhimes and Disney

Even if it's a sign of disrespect no one leaves because of a ticket they can afford, their relationship was already tense that anything would have caused Rhonda to leave

We're too focused on the fucking ticket honestly

 

[BossAttack]

I'm not judging the black creative more harshly than I am the billion dollar corporation, but rich people asking for free shit will never sit right with me, either. I don't care if it's Shonda or the latest MCU actor. Shut up and buy your own passes.

Like, honestly.

We're talking pennies here. To everyone involved.

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Again, it's about respect. Any decent professional company has certain free perks. Imagine now that you, as the TOP earning employee, who also happens to be black in an all-white field, are told that actually you gotta pay for those perks. Then when you chafe are then told "haven't you gotten enough free lunches?"

If that shit happened to me, I'd be updating my CV. Fuck those racist ass pricks. And as has already been noted, this isn't the first black creative to speak out about the inequality at Disney.

 

[petitmelon]

It's not the ticket itself it's the principle of the matter. They're all too happy to revel in successes of her labor and act like she should be thankful they give her anything at all in return. Fuck them and I wish her all the future success.

 

[Gotdatmoney]

If I make you billions of dollars when I ask for some passes to Disneyland you can fucking give them to me. Telling a black woman "don't you have enough" who comes to work and puts billions in your pockets is fucking shocking levels of misogyny and racism.

Anyone here who is turning this into a story of pettiness and rich people asking for free shit, you on my sus list now. Fuck outta here.

Rich people get free shit all the fucking time, no one asked you whether you like it or not.

 

[Surakian]

I'm not judging the black creative more harshly than I am the billion dollar corporation, but rich people asking for free shit will never sit right with me, either. I don't care if it's Shonda or the latest MCU actor. Shut up and buy your own passes.



Like, honestly.

We're talking pennies here. To everyone involved.

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Disney gives free passes to all of their employees. It should have been absolutely no hardship for them to give a bunch of them to Shonda when she asked.

It doesn't matter if she could pay, this was about honoring her contract and respecting her.

 

[stupei]

Whoever that executive was, there's no way they made Disney more money than Shonda did. Their time was not more valuable than hers.

Seriously, it feels like people are reaching for excuses for why their first reaction was to agree that the black woman has received enough and should be more grateful.

 

[Aureon]

Headline is shit. Utter trash journalism here.

 

[StrangeRoboMemory]

It's not about the ticket, it's about what it represents.

 

[BioDigital Jazzman]

I feel like only white people can come away with the "both sides suck" angle.

It's not about the pass, it's the principle. You think white executives and showrunners need to ask repeatedly for passes to the fucking park? You think those people got dicked around or told, "don't you have enough?" You think Kevin Feige has to ask more than once for as many passes as he likes? You think Chris Evans or RDJ have a pass limit?

Yeah, fuck them. She was right to leave after that.

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People really don't get it. My white CEO/founder goes into the lunch room and just gets food for free. You think the cashiers would just say, excuse me sir you have to pay for that. And he has to make a call? No of course not

I said this on Twitter. It's about respect. Lebron James can go to the staples center and ask for whatever he wants and they should do it without him having to call the owner. You respect your cash cow

 

[Pai Pai Master]

The misogynoir is really jumping out in this thread. We calling Black women divas now, really?

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It's so tiresome

 

[caliph95]

It's not about the ticket, it's about what it represents.

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It's not even just the ticket she was already in conflicts with Disney over her shows

We're too focused on the fucking ticket

 

[krazen]

People really don't get it. My white CEO/founder goes into the lunch room and just gets food for free. You think the cashiers would just say, excuse me sir you have to pay for that. And he has to make a call? No of course not

I said this on Twitter. It's about respect. Lebron James can go to the staples center and ask for whatever he wants and they should do it without him having to call the owner. You respect your cash cow

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Yup. I get people are mad at 'hookups' because of shit in their personal life ("Yo, how you gonna keep that PS5 pre-order for your boy and not for the customer?") type shit.

But the issue is that she was not afforded the same level of courtesy given to other people in a similar position, apparently even really low level Disney employees, and felt undervalued.

In the article they give an aside about how she was chopping it up with a Netflix exec about Luke Cage's and he personally sent her DVD's of the second season before it dropped, unasked.

How else would anyone normal compute the gap in treatment but disrespect? And like the article hinted, it manifested itself in their pushback to her show making process . It's all the same issue, same disrespect.

 

[mikehaggar]

I don't blame her at all for being irked about the tickets. If I was creating shows for ABC/Disney and making them a lot of money I'd expect to be able to go to any of the Disney parks, bring whoever I want, and get in for free too. Yes, I could afford to just pay, but work perks are nice. And they are also an act/symbol of appreciation from your employer.

 

[stupei]

The fact that she could afford it misses the point.

Who the hell wants to give money back to your employer to receive benefits you are meant to have as an employee?

 

[Mansa Mufasa]

I don't know if I should laugh or cry. To me it seems petty on both sides but it is in her contract.... I could go back and forth on the logic over and over

Is Netflix Getting her Disneyland passes now?

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It's the fucking principle of the matter.

 

[krazen]

I don't blame her at all for being irked about the tickets. If I was creating shows for ABC/Disney and making them a lot of money I'd expect to be able to go to any of the Disney parks, bring whoever I want, and get in for free too. Yes, I could afford to just pay, but work perks are nice. And they are also an act/symbol of appreciation from your employer.

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Yup. Hell, I switched jobs last year and a whole section of the post HR discussion was perks. When I worked fast food as a teen we had a mini budget on what we could get for free. These things aren't extravagant asks, or something not in the realm of everyday people. You would be hardpressed to find a place of employment that doesn't give it's employees some kind of easier access to whatever its selling.

So it's weird as if we are discussing it as if she rolled up in the Maybach, throwing drinks at the Parks employees, demanding to be carried by the actors into the park. She wanted three tickets that they told her would be at the door and did fuckall about it, lol. It's not a minimum wage park employee that dropped the ball here, it's most likely a dude getting an even bigger paycheck...driving said Maybach to work, lol

 

[VAD]

She was fucking right. You have to quit if you can afford to when you feel disrespected. It's not about the money, it's about sending a message.

 

[Human Resources]

people need to look past the money issue, this isn't about money
imagine if angelina jolie wanted to take her kids to disneyland while filming maleficent or something, do you think disney would let her front a red cent for anything on that trip? absolutely not.

rhimes doesn't want to be treated like royalty, she wants to be treated equitably. as someone who works in film accounting, i write off petty shit like this all day for VIPs. give rhimes what she wants and code that shit to ATL travel and living and move on. rookie move, ABC