It was just three weeks ago when the New York Times published their “astonishingly tone-deaf” think-piece, the thesis of which can be summed up with this line: “When Shonda Rhimes writes her autobiography, it should be called ‘How to Get Away With Being an Angry Black Woman.’” The Times later apologized (but the writer, Alessandra Stanley, did NOT). In the immediate aftermath of the NYT piece, Shonda responded on Twitter but she didn’t harp on it too much, mostly because every media critic and writer was horrified on Shonda’s behalf.

Now Shonda covers the new issue of The Hollywood Reporter. When she sat down with THR, the NYT piece had just been published a few days prior. Shonda leads with that conversation (you can read the full piece here)

In early August, Shonda Rhimes read a draft announcement for an event where she was set to appear. It called her “the most powerful black female showrunner in Hollywood.” She crossed out “female” and “black” and sent it back.

As the mastermind of Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal and the producer of top-rated newcomer How to Get Away With Murder, all for ABC, she didn’t believe either modifier was necessary — or relevant. “They wouldn’t say that someone is ‘the most powerful white male showrunner in Hollywood,’ ” she contends, her tone turning momentarily stern on this morning in late September. She pauses to gather her thoughts and then continues: “I find race and gender to be terribly important; they’re terribly important to who I am. But there’s something about the need for everybody else to spend time talking about it … that pisses me off.”

As for the New York Times piece, Rhimes says: “Some really amazing articles were written that had the conversation that I’ve been trying to have for a very long time, which, coming from me, makes me sound like I’m just, ‘Rrrraw!’ ” she mimics a roar, her painted nails clawing the air. Her inbox has been deluged with notes from concerned friends and colleagues, many of whom called for the piece to be retracted. Rhimes would prefer it remain: “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.”

[From THR]

I think she’s dead on. Shonda’s perspective reminds me a lot of what Mindy Kaling says about her success, how people are always like “I can’t believe you’re so successful because you’re so Indian/not-a-size-zero/female.” Shonda is aware that her success is seen with those same kinds of modifiers. Why should Shonda waste time justifying herself as a black woman in her industry?

But the biggest headline from the interview is when Shonda goes HARD on Katherine Heigl. Heigl had a very public falling out with Shonda and with the Grey’s Anatomy writers and producers and Shonda cites that as a teachable moment for how she runs Scandal with a “no a–holes policy.” Shonda says, regarding Scandal: “There are no Heigls in this situation… I don’t put up with bullshi–t or nasty people. I don’t have time for it.”

Interestingly enough, the THR article also has a fascinating discussion about money and just how much ABC is willing to hand over to Shonda. Earlier this year, Shonda “made the rounds to other studios earlier to assess her options” because she had been working exclusively with ABC Studios this whole time. Shonda says: “It wasn’t really about money, though don’t get me wrong, it’s very important in a world in which women are paid 77 cents on the dollar to be paid in a way that felt correct. I wanted more control. I wanted the autonomy. And I wanted to feel like if I was making shows, I could sell them anywhere.” But the moral of the story is that Shonda scared the hell out of ABC and in May, they locked her into a lucrative and mutually beneficial four-year contract to develop her shows, plus she gets a backend. GO SHONDA.

Photos courtesy of THR.