It didn't take long for Stacey Dash to find herself in the middle of some controversy again.
Last night, she managed to ruffle quite a few feathers after Fox & Friend's co-host Steve Doocy asked the former actress turned Fox News pundit her opinion on Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith boycotting the Oscar Awards due to a lack of diversity. What she said will probably make you cringe, so you've been warned.
We have to make up our minds. Either we want to have segregation or integration. And if we don't want segregation, then we need to get rid of channels like B.E.T. and the B.E.T. Awards and the Image Awards where you're only awarded if you're black. If it were the other way around, we would be up in arms. It's a double standard. STEVE DOOCY (HOST): So you say there shouldn't be a B.E.T. channel?
DASH: No, I don't think so. No. Just like there shouldn't be a Black History Month. You know? We're Americans. Period. That's it.
DOOCY: Are you saying there shouldn't be a Black History Month because there isn't a white history month?
DASH: Exactly. Exactly.
When they discussed Al Sharpton saying, that "Hollywood has become like the Rocky Mountains - the higher you get, the whiter." Stacey said that she didn't agree with that rhetoric, and she found it funny that we had a black president who gets his funding from the Hollywood elite, and why is this now becoming an issue.
DOOCY: I can understand Jada Pinkett Smith's frustration because her husband wasn't nominated for, you know he did a great job in the movie "Concussion." But at the same time, what does that say about how people are selected for these awards?DASH: Right, that's assuming they're selected by race, which I'm assuming that, which I think it would very be a disservice to the people who are looking at the films and making the choices. Maybe they knew they needed to be more integrated, and there needs to be more diverse people in the process of electing,
DOOCY: The Academy.
DASH: In the academy.
DOOCY: The demographics of the Academy apparently are secret. But for the most part, apparently in some investigations, it's predominantly white male.
DASH: Really?
DOOCY: Yeah. So maybe that says something about who they select, or are they, are they looking for that, or the best movies and the best actors?
DASH: I hope they are looking for the best movies and the best actors. The good news is that there's attention brought to it now. But like I said, over the past eight years we've had a president who's black. Who gets his funding mainly from Hollywood. The elite liberals. So it's odd to me that this has now become such an issue.
If what she had to say upset you, then please believe that you weren't nearly as upset as BET. The network clapped back on Instagram, with a caption that said,
Soooooo @realstaceyldash, can we get our check back... or nah? #Remember #YouWereOnTheGame #AndWeDontMeanTheRapper
Oh, and the network didn't stop there. Their clapback game is getting realer by the hour, especially after this Tweet.
There are some folks who are standing with BET on this issue, and they really can't stand what she has to say.
Yikes! This story is getting real.
What's interesting about this conversation is that Jada Pinkett Smith, at one point, thought about what Stacey Dash said about inclusion.
Back in 2013, Jada asked her social media followers if Black publications should extend the offer to place white women on their covers. She said,
With love and respect to all parties involved, my question is this...if we ask our white sisters, who tend to be the guardians of the covers of mainstream magazines, to consider women of color to grace these covers, should we not offer the same consideration to white women to grace our covers? Should women extend their power to other women simply because they are women? To my women of color, I am clear we must have something of our own, but is it possible to share in the spirit in which we ask our white sisters to share with us? I don't know the answer and would love to hear your thoughts.
Fast forward to today, and Stacey Dash is sharing similar sentiments when she said this:
We have to make up our minds. Either we want to have segregation or integration. And if we don't want segregation, then we need to get rid of channels like B.E.T. and the B.E.T. Awards and the Image Awards where you're only awarded if you're black. If it were the other way around, we would be up in arms. It's a double standard.
Do you think Stacey has a point about double standards? Or do you think she's talking out of the side of her neck again? Sound off in the comments.
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While speaking to xoNecole, Eva shares that she’s a lot like the beloved 1994 character in many ways. “Lyric is so me. She's the odd flower. A flower nonetheless, but definitely not a peony,” she tells us.
“She's not the average flower you see presented, and so she reminds me of myself. I'm a sunflower, beautiful, but different. And what I loved about her character then, and even more so now, is that she was very sure of herself.
"Sure of what she wanted in life and okay to sacrifice her moments right now, to get what she knew she deserved later. And that is me. I'm not an instant gratification kind of a person. I am a long game. I'm not a sprinter, I'm a marathon.
America first fell in love with Eva when she graced our screens on cycle 3 of America’s Next Top Model in 2004, which she emerged as the winner. Since then, she's ventured into different avenues, from acting on various TV series like House of Payne to starring on Real Housewives of Atlanta.
Je-Caryous Johnson Entertainment
Eva praises her castmates and the play’s producer, Je’Caryous for her positive experience. “You know what? Je’Caryous fuels my audacity car daily, ‘cause I consider myself an extremely audacious woman, and I believe in what I know, even if no one else knows it, because God gave it to me. So I know what I know. That is who Je’Caryous is.”
But the mom of three isn’t the only one in the family who enjoys acting. Eva reveals her daughter Marley has also caught the acting bug.
“It is the most adorable thing you can ever see. She’s got a part in her school play. She's in her chorus, and she loves it,” she says. “I don't know if she loves it, because it's like, mommy does it, so maybe I should do it, but there is something about her.”
Overall, Eva hopes that her contribution to the role and the play as a whole serves as motivation for others to reach for the stars.
“I want them to walk out with hope. I want them to re-vision their dreams. Whatever they were. Whatever they are. To re-see them and then have that thing inside of them say, ‘You know what? I'm going to do that. Whatever dream you put on the back burner, go pick it up.
"Whatever dream you've accomplished, make a new dream, but continue to reach for the stars. Continue to reach for what is beyond what people say we can do, especially as [a] Black collective but especially as Black women. When it comes to us and who we are and what we accept and what we're worth, it's not about having seen it before. It's about knowing that I deserve it.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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Feature image by Leon Bennett/WireImage
