Patti LaBelle Dancing With The Stars

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Shonda Rhimes is viewed as a ground-breaker in television, since she’s created the hits Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal and produces How to Get Away with Murder. But for all the credit she gets in having diverse casts ranging in racial identities to including the LGBT community, she actually dispels the “d” word.

In ShondaLand, she sees her characters and casts as “normalizing.” While speaking at the Humans Rights Campaign Gala in L.A., she spoke on the praise:

“I really hate the word ‘diversity,’ it suggests something…other. As if it is something…special. Or rare. 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. 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.

“The goal is that everyone should get to turn on the TV and see someone who looks like them and loves like them. And just as important, everyone should turn on the TV and see someone who doesn’t look like them and love like them. Because, perhaps then, they will learn from them.”

We love her!