“It definitely feels that way to a lot of people, that there is self-censoring going on,” Rhimes said during an appearance at the Edinburgh TV festival, per Deadline. Her claim reportedly came after she was asked about Paramount and Disney‘s respective settlements with the litigious president, which she said she could not directly comment on.
Whether or not Rhimes could directly weigh in on either company’s decision making behind the scenes, we have already seen this sort of censorship from both. Apart from the controversial decision to cancel Stephen Colbert’s Late Show (which Paramount-owned CBS claimed was “purely a financial decision”), Paramount’s new bosses have also vowed to eliminate DEI at the company. Disney has also repeatedly made headlines for cutting queer storylines in projects like Elio and last year’s Win Or Lose.
Thankfully, the Grey’s Anatomy mastermind still feels she has the power to “make the shows that matter to me.” She’s certainly felt the heat from this administration in other ways, though. Rhimes was among the many luminaries to cut ties with the Kennedy Center after Trump appointed himself chairman in February. “I stayed on that board through his appointment, mainly because I was the treasurer of the Kennedy Center, so it was my duty… to ask all the smart fiduciary questions while they were making that transition,” she said. “But once that transition was made, I literally was the only person left who was an artist, who was of the old regime of the Kennedy Center… and therefore, in my mind, it wasn’t a board anymore. It’s certainly not the board with the same mission as when I came in.”
Rhimes also said she wasn’t bothered by accusations that Bridgerton was too “woke” due to its diverse casting. “That’s so cute,” she said. “How people react and take in the show is none of my business.”
