Lena Waithe will be featured on the upcoming issue of Vanity Fair, engaging in an interview that aims to give the public a more nuanced understanding of this public figure. The triple threat has been gaining some credible notoriety in her field, nabbing a star-making turn in Master of None, as well as creating and executive-producing the hit Showtime drama The Chi. However, it is Waithe's recent Emmy win for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series that is the most impressive, as she became the first African American woman to be given that distinguished accolade.
Vanity Fair clearly caught wind of Waithe's burgeoning social currency, placing the acclaimed star on their cover page as a way to highlight a left-of-centre talent disrupting Hollywood's norms. Waithe admits that her admiration for television and Hollywood productions came at an early age, as her single mother allowed her to watch as many programs on television as her eyes could withstand. "I was watching a lot of movies I shouldn’t have been watching,” Lena admits. “Like Boyz N the Hood. Also a lot of rated-R shit. Jungle Fever. But that’s the joy of having a single mom. She was like, I can’t hover over you. Watch what you want. Just don’t repeat what you hear and don’t do what you see."
Waithe also details how her historic Emmy win has changed her life and amped up her career prospects. "How has the Emmy changed me? It got me all these meetings that I go in and say I’m too busy to work with you—you should have hollered at me. You can take my call when I call you about this black queer writer over here who’s got a dope pilot, or this person over here who’s got really cool ideas, or this actress who’s really amazing but nobody’s seen her."
Speaking about the sexual misconduct allegations aimed squarely at Master of None co-star Aziz Ansari, Waithe admits that "at the end of the day, what I would hope comes out of this is that we as a society . . . educate ourselves about what consent is—what it looks like, what it feels like, what it sounds like. I think there are both men and women who are still trying to figure it out. We need to be more attuned to each other, pay more attention to each other, in every scenario, and really make sure that, whatever it is we’re doing with someone else, they’re comfortable doing whatever that thing is, and that we’re doing it together. That’s just human kindness and decency."
