Here's why Oprah Winfrey and Ava DuVernay don't use the word "diversity" anymore
Hollywood has systemic representation issues, it's true. But don't call it a "diversity" problem — at least, not while talking to Oprah Winfrey and Ava DuVernay. Speaking in a joint interview with the Hollywood Reporter, the duo explained that "diversity" should be replaced in such dialogues with "inclusion," because that's really the goal in Hollywood and other prominent industries: to be included and "have a seat at the table," as Winfrey put it.
"We aren't sitting around talking about diversity, just like we aren't sitting around talking about being black or being women," DuVernay explained. "We're just being that."
Winfrey, for her part, admitted that she used to use diversity when discussing the concept, but has since taken DuVernay's stance.
"I will say that I stand corrected," she told the Hollywood Reporter. "I used to use the word 'diversity' all the time. 'We want more diverse stories, more diverse characters ...' Now I really eliminated it from my vocabulary because I've learned from her that the word that most articulates what we're looking for is what we want to be: included."
Winfrey and DuVernay will soon debut a new series on Oprah's OWN network, Queen Sugar. The series will follow the lives of two sisters who must band together to help run their family's sugarcane farm in the Deep South. Queen Sugar certainly fits the inclusive mold: All the series' episodes will be directed by women.
Watch the trailer for Queen Sugar, which premieres on OWN Sept. 6, below.