Media

Jesse Williams: Media ‘Infantilizes’ White Shooters

ABC

Amber Athey Podcast Columnist
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Grey’s Anatomy star Jesse Williams accused the media of spinning shootings to make members of the white “oppressor class” appear more favorable.

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ABC’s “The View” asked Williams about a recent episode on Grey’s Anatomy where a young black boy was shot by a white police officer. Cohost Joy Behar said the episode seemed like it was “ripped straight out of the headlines.”

“We talked a lot about that,” Williams said of himself and the writer of the episode. “We worked very closely together on the content and the material — on the outcome, the relationship between the law enforcement officers and the family == and there are unfortunately so many real-life examples for us to pick from.”

Williams said he hoped the episode would be “real and impactful and would allow some humanity to creep in, particularly around young black bodies, young black boys.”

The actor alleged that the media gives negative coverage to black shooting victims while “soft[ening] white perpetrators in order to uphold a certain power dynamic.

“We are often always projected to be older than we are, Tamir Rice was 12-years-old but was reported as a 20-year-old,” Williams said. “While adult white men are infantilized, and made small and young and soft, and they need help and they’re just a lone wolf.”

“It’s convenient for the oppressor class,” he concluded. “So it’s something that we paid a lot of attention to and tried to be as productive and as honest as possible in the process.”

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