--- description: There's more to the 'Grey's Anatomy' and 'Scandal' creator than her gender and race title: Shonda Rhimes Responds to 'Angry Black Woman' Piece in Interview image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt96cf6adaa5dfb4ff/69875f4555a8593aada8314b/36_shonda_rhimes_cover_embed.jpeg?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Shonda Rhimes Doesn't Want to Talk About Her Race  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Oct 8, 2014 5:42 PM CUT  Shonda Rhimes on the cover of the Oct. 17 Hollywood Reporter Shonda Rhimes on the cover of the Oct. 17 Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood Reporter  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Oct 8, 2014 5:42 PM CUT Shonda Rhimes is sick of talking about her race and her gender. In a [new _Hollywood Reporter_ profile](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/shonda-rhimes-opens-up-angry-738715 "undefined") of the _Grey’s Anatomy_ and _Scandal_ mastermind, Rhimes said that when she was sent draft text indicating she would be introduced at an event as “the most powerful black female showrunner in Hollywood,” she crossed out “black” and “female” before sending it back. “I find race and gender to be terribly important; they’re terribly important to who I am,” Rhimes said. “But there’s something about the need for everybody else to spend time talking about it… that pisses me off.” Rhimes found herself at the center of a conversation about race and gender last month when the New York _Times_ began a [review](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/21/arts/television/viola-davis-plays-shonda-rhimess-latest-tough-heroine.html "undefined") of a show she’s producing called _How to Get Away With Murder_ like this: “When Shonda Rhimes writes her autobiography, it should be called ‘How to Get Away With Being an Angry Black Woman.'” Despite friends calling for the piece to be retracted, Rhimes said she wants the _Times_ to keep it on its site: “In this world in which we all feel we’re so full of gender equality and we’re a postracial \[society\] and Obama is president, it’s a very good reminder to see the casual racial bias and odd misogyny from a woman written in a paper that we all think of as being so liberal.” \[[_THR_](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/shonda-rhimes-opens-up-angry-738715 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3482083/shonda-rhimes-angry-black-woman/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3482083/shonda-rhimes-angry-black-woman/"},"headline":"Shonda Rhimes Doesn't Want to Talk About Her Race","datePublished":"2014-10-08T17:42:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:39:42.333Z","description":"\"That pisses me off\"","url":"https://time.com/3482083/shonda-rhimes-angry-black-woman/","keywords":["Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt96cf6adaa5dfb4ff/69875f4555a8593aada8314b/36_shonda_rhimes_cover_embed.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt96cf6adaa5dfb4ff/69875f4555a8593aada8314b/36_shonda_rhimes_cover_embed.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"36_Shonda_Rhimes_Cover_Embed","caption":"Shonda Rhimes on the cover of the Oct. 17 Hollywood Reporter","creditText":"The Hollywood Reporter","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3482083/shonda-rhimes-angry-black-woman/","name":"Shonda Rhimes Doesn't Want to Talk About Her Race"}}]}] ```