It seems for every nod actor/activist Jesse Williams got for his impassioned plea for racial equality at this year’s BET Awards there is a detractor who didn’t exactly fancy his fiery words.
From FOX analysts to ‘Clueless’ star Stacey Dash (read more on that here), Williams’ words ignited a surprising firestorm of debate amongst viewers – some of whom have slammed the ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ star for ‘spewing blatant racism.’
Banding together, the actor’s critics started a Change.org petition to see him booted from the prized ABC series (as of time reported the petition has collected over 15,000 signatures). Tuck in below to see Shonda Rhimes’ – the series creator – and Williams response to the hoopla:
The petition states:
The petition reads:
Jesse Williams spewed a racist, hate speech against law enforcement and white people at the BET awards. If this was a white person making the same speech about an African American, they would have been fired and globally chastised, as they should be, but there has been no consequences to Williams’ actions. There’s been no companies making a stand against his racist remarks and no swift action condemning his negative attitude. Why was Burke’s character fired from Grey’s Anatomy after his inappropriate homophobic slur, but nothing for Jesse Williams? Why the one-way street? Why the support for a hater? Why the hypocrisy? #AllLivesMatter All humans bleed the same color. #EqualConsequences4RacistBehavior
**A special note to all the people making assumptions: Who said I was white? Who said I’m a Trump supporter? This is not about politics. This is about equal consequences for racist behavior. If this was an Asian, Mexican, Caucasian or whoever saying the same exact words as Jesse Williams did, I would be against it and petitioned them to be fired if they did not suffer the same consequences as others have suffered for their irrational behavior. We’re all adult human beings. Why not act that way? Instead of lashing out with immature and obnoxious name calling, do something about getting everyone to look at everyone in the same light. Make a difference!
Rimes response:
![MOBO Awards: Nominations Revealed [Nicki Minaj, Wizkid, Tyla, Central Cee, & Ayra Starr Named]](https://thatgrapejuice.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/mobo-awards-2023-2024-nominations-tgj-464x260.jpg "MOBO Awards: Nominations Revealed [Nicki Minaj, Wizkid, Tyla, Central Cee, & Ayra Starr Named].")
If you know your not racists why would you feel ofended ???? Mad he hit a sensitive spot and now ya can’t control ya guilt. Same thibg that they tried to do to Bey. F*** em, keep doing you Jesse you said nothing but the absolute truth.
Agreed!
You Stan Iggy, wyd?
Is it me? but not to get off topic. but why is jesse so damn pretty? an ANGRY redbone? i love what is happening in black culture. LIGHT SKINS STAND UP.
Way off-topic. Hush.
Whites are pissed that they don’t have the power they use to. Colored people are fighters and we are not playing. Beyonce and Jessie are able to have a voice. We need it. Their petition is wack. I love blacks in power because Shonda Rhimes making sure he goes no where.
Ok now Preacher. Those people are clearly racists and we’re harboring those feelings the entire time. Jessie speech just gave them a reason to poke the eyes out of they KKK masks.
ofcourse they want him to get fired , to them he step out of is place how dear him speak on the wrongs that blacks are facing and over all injustice,ofcourse they want him to get fired. because he upset a certain set how dear him upset them, pff they can f-ckoff i wish he makes another speech like that again. people needs to stop sleeping in fear and wake up.
AmenT!
Educated black men are Sooo………..???? Y’all can keep the hood n***** & lames
And YOU are a part of the problem. Excluding a group of African Americans that you don’t deem worthy. And it’s those same people that get shot & killed. It’s THOSE same people that didn’t particularly have the best childhood or parents growing up. But you disregard them? You sound just about as dumb as LB.
Lol girl bye. They’re clearly speaking in terms of attractiveness. How is finding ignorant hood rats unattractive apart of the problem?
Exactly.
Whether they were talking about attractiveness or not there’s no reason to insinuate one part of people not being as worthy as another part. Simple as that. Black lives matter regardless of how attractive they are to you.
This is what happens when you get them shook. The white tears and guilt start talking. They tried that mess with Bey, but she was too powerful and influential to pay attention to the backlash and now they’re coming for Jesse. I’m so over that particular group of human beings, to be honest.
A Molly T.
Black people are in power positions like never before is what they’re really sleeping on, though. Basically, the two ppl that would have been in charge of getting rid of Jesse are powerful black women. Let me do a quick rollcall: President, Barack Obama. Queen of Daytime Talk, Wendy Williams. QUEEN OF ALL MEDIA, OPRAH. Current biggest superstar on the globe, Beyoncé. Top athletes, Serena Williams, Steph Curry, Lebron James. And, that’s just the TIP of the iceberg.
We lit.
Tea but Wendy is not seeing Ellen on daytime talk
Theres is where blacks have it wrong, most of the people u mentioned dont OWN (except Oprah note the only billionaire
U mentioned)
Anything…
Indians & the chinese have the right idea… Only through education & academia can we be free… We need to be running big corporations not singing & dancing like coons
Yet those are some of the most influential and famous black celebs in the world. There is nothing wrong with singing and dancing when you are conveying a message through your music and putting it on a mainstream platform. They all might not be VERY rich and behind huge businesses but they have what a lot of people dont: impact.
Why do people bother with these silly petitions? They almost always achieve nothing. And how much longer are we going to abuse the word racism? Racism, prejudice, and discrimination are 3 different things people. Please learn the differences
Sorry but a Katy Perry fan trying to hone in on a serious conversation is just…odd.
You’re right! They are three different things and that’s why everything is confused
You’re actually right though. Those three words are commonly mixed up and they are different from each other.
Didn’t think about Ellen lol. I love her. However, Wendy and her impact is not to be overlooked. Currently, if I’m not mistaking, her show is renewed through like 2020. That speaks volumes. She’s probably the second best black daytime talkshow host ever, only second to Oprah, of course.
Stacey Dash is in serious need of head check. Oh and a mirror cuz…YOU BLACK GURL!
So when someone says something stupid and ignorant like “all black people are criminals” , black people shouldn’t be offended , because the ones who aren’t and feel offened are just “Mad he hit a sensitive spot and now ya can’t control ya guilt” right? Your words, not mine
Jesse never made an all inclusive statement like such, you moron. That’s the idea. His words didn’t have the power or purpose to specifically identify any individual or group he was aiming his frustrations at. Though, at any time, any individual does have the power to insert his/her self into the equation. Which is exactly what the person who wrote this petition did. And That is the difference between your statement and Jesse’s speech. His speech was referring to white supremacists. And you don’t have to be white to be a white supremacist. It’s a group that anyone can potentially belong to and it has nothing to do with a physical attribute. If you don’t belong in this group, then his speech shouldn’t bother you, because it doesn’t concern you… or does it?
@lmfahoe
He didn’t sound any different than Hitler inciting the crowd that the Jews were the enemies of the German people and the cause of all of their problems, the more he attack white people, the more euphoric the crowd went, just watch any Hitler speech, spot the similarities.
Hmmmm. Nope, don’t see it. However, you forgot to mention the obvious similarities between Trump and Hitler’s speeches, though.
Trump is too stupid to even be compared to Hitler, he’s a joke, Hitler was the Devil but no one can’t deny that he was at least intelligent.
DEATH @Chile… I see Paul wasn’t ready.
Of course your dumbass would compare Jesse’s speech to Hitler! GTFOH!!! I shouldn’t have expected any less from one of TGJ’s resident racists.
Say whatever you want but the truth is that you can’t fight racism with racism, you got to be smarter than that, if you want to succeed in America, Obama didn’t get to the White House like this, he was smart enough to be on white peoples side (people in power) until he became the boss, black people should play the game that whites have been playing since the beginning of humanity, use your mind not your hands and mouth.
@S******, I was literally following along with you until you mentioned “hands and mouth”. You should know better by now that the type of stereotypical behavior you’re assuming the average black person possesses is incredibly false and tired to be honest. You can’t straddle the fence. You either help to uplift us or just leave it alone.
And you didn’t understand what I was trying to say with that, this guy was inciting hate, the only way to get justice for what I understand from his speech was the force (violence), and that’s not the way, nothing will change with that attitude, I understand that people are desperated and tired of all the injustices they face everyday but getting people on streets, protesting and causing riots won’t work, especially in this country, that’s my point.
LOL CHILE SIT YOUR WHITE PRIVILEGE IGNORANT ASS DOWN. IT’S YOUR RACE THAT STARTED AND PERFECTED RACISM, SO SIT UNTIL YOUR PEOPLE GET IT TOGETHER LOL.
You sad human being. How can you seriously compare Hitler to Jesse? Jesse is not trying to incite black people to kill white people, he isn’t trying to ‘cleanse’ America of all white
People. He doesn’t want to segregate white people and send them off to a concentration camp where they’ll be experimented on, r****, killed, starved. Jesse made no threat to white people, he only spoke about the injustice black people face.
The fact that you equate hitler to someone speaking out about personal injustices they experience is mind blowing, and is also just a way for you to deflect and allows you to not even have to think about the gritty things Jesse actually said. People got more riled up as the speech went on because this is everyday life for black ppl. Constantly having to prove your worth, constantly having to deal with s***** comments like this that derail our positive conversations.
Sometimes it just feels like white people are scared that if people of colour gain any equal footing, that we would want to treat them how their ancestors treated our ancestors and so they equate our speeches to the KKK and Nazi’s. They’re petrified about their karma. Meanwhile we do not want to be anything like you, in terms of current power dynamics, we just want to not be treated like 2nd class humans.
KIII @ the suicideBottom draggings!!!! EYE AM ALIVE!!!!!!!
Dear racist white people…Grey’s Anatomy averages about 10 million viewers per week. It’s gonna take more than 15,000 signatures to get Jesse fired. Sorry losers!
Dallas and Dynasty used to get more than double those ratings…
LOL GIRL SHUT UP, THIS AIN’T THE 80’S LMAO.
Dallas and Dynasty are both canceled now so what’s your point… Grey’s Anatomy used to get double those ratings as well….
@LOL I AM SCREAMING!!
What do you expect from racist white c****!
These are the same people that will argue why they should be able to fly the confederate flag or tell you who you should vote for and how you should live your life and why you should forget about slavery.The minute you spotlight issues that effect the black community all of a sudden, you’re the racist.Every last person who signed that pathetic ass petition just highlighted that they have nothing better to do and that they are indeed racist. I can’t get over how hypocritical these saltines are.
We’re not our grandparents, we will talk all the ish we want and kick your asses if nessacary,they know this so now their new format or safe haven for talking mess is online and online only unless their in a crowd.Jesse s*** ass was right and they need to get over it.
LOL WHITE GUILT IN FULL EFFECT LOL. THEY JUST CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH LOL.
Folks throwing around the reverse racism card is so expected… This aint a game of UNO h***, aint no reverse racism. The system created only dispaces one of the two races, and that has always been black. Also my biggest pet peeve is white people trying to turn a motivated self empowering speech into a hate speech? Comparing it to Hitler? Keep. Showing. Your. Assses. Thanks! We need all truths to come out. Enough rationalizing with sick people.
Yall already know I’m about to go off. I’m so proud to see so many of you are educated. Anyway, to that piece of s*** who mentioned Hitler? Wyd? Jesse didn’t tell anyone to arrest white people and put them in a camp. Nor did he say black people are superior to everyone else lol. White people are so scared of facing EXACTLY what they started which is so ironic to me. White people have the nerve to only see racism when they think it’s about them which is my next issue. They make EVERYTHING about them. This petition was more about white people needing to be included rather than actually helping anyone or anything. Where were the petitions when Zimmerman dodged a sentence? Exactly. White people don’t care about anyone but themselves which is why for over 450 years they have set all this up.
@suicidefag you need to keep your words to yourself. You’re only making a fool of your intelligence. Who are you to tell black people what we should and shouldn’t be doing to be respected? How about you tell your own race to stop rather than telling us HOW we should stop racism. Foh.
The KKK is still protected under the first amendment. Went haven’t white people petitioned against that? Lol cuz Whyte people are full of s***. They protested Beyoncé but STILL haven’t protested Donald trump lol. White people are full of s***. They called national Guard of Ferguson protests but STILL HAVEN’T CALLED NATIONAL GUARD ON THE KKK. WTF.
Wow
People, people Focus, we are human, we bleed, we enjoy been Alive, focus one the real issues here, some of these black victims brutalized by the police are kids Kids, teenagers and u think its okay to argue this out to please urself, no matter how racist u are if u think this is okay then u don’t even deserve to be alive u are a terrible person and u shouldn’t even be provided a platform to speak, people like Jesse and Beyonce aren’t already rich and wealthy, and they personally don’t face any of these social injustice directly, this isn’t about them, they utilizing the platform they have been provided to speak up in hopes of solving the issue, they can decide to keep quite they’d still get paid ,as a matter of fact look what they risking to be the voice of the voiceless, don’t get it twisted, Black lives do matter bcos black lives have been targeted and not all lives so I don’t need u saying all lives matters as an attempt to redirect from the truth, yes all lives do matter but for now the lives of black people have been targeted .