The “Scandal” actress recently opened up to TV One’s Roland Hill on her new political drama “Confirmation.”
The HBO political drama follows law professor Anita Hill, who accused Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment in the early 90s.
The Emmy- award winning actress will play Hill, a law professor at the University of Oklahoma who during the Senate Judiciary Committee’s confirmation hearings for eventual Supreme Court Justice Thomas, claimed that he had sexually harassed her.
Hill claimed that during her two years working under Thomas as an aide, he made several sexually charged comments to her including discussing his penis size, saying it was “larger than normal,” and his talent for pleasuring woman through oral sex.
The Clarence Thomas hearings exemplified how an accomplished African American woman is susceptible to attack when she challenges an equally accomplished African American man.
In her TV One’s News One Now interview, Washington opens up on the racial implications of Hill’s accusation and the impact it had on politics and the African-American community.
Washington made her onscreen debut in 2000 in the independent film “Our Song” and later in the film “Save the Last Dance,” for which she received a Teen Choice Award for Best Breakout Performance. She currently stars in the hit ABC drama “Scandal” and became the first African-American woman to a headline a network TV show since the 1974 short-lived series “Get Christie Love.” She earned her first primetime Emmy award nomination for her portrayal of Olivia Pope 2013. She was also awarded an NAACP Image Award for Best Actress, and the show won for Best Drama.
“Kerry Washington Revealed” premieres this Sunday, April 17 at 10 p.m. ET on TV One.
