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Culture > Entertainment

The Internet is Obsessed With Gabrielle Union’s Reaction to Ellen Pompeo’s Call for Diversity

Emily Veith

It’s no secret that there is still a lack of diversity in Hollywood, with women and individuals of color not being appropriately paid for their work or treated with the respect they deserve. So when Ellen Pompeo called out the lack of diversity and discrimination in a recent interview, Gabrielle Union’s reaction showed that she was totally here for Pompeo’s remarks, and the internet is totally obsessed with Union’s reaction.

Over the course of a 24-minute panel discussion for NET-A-PORTER’s “The Big Television Debate,” Pompeo and Union, along with Gina Rodriguez and Emma Roberts, spoke frankly about pay equity, diversity and inclusion in the industry, and beyond.

In a powerful moment during the interview, Pompeo gave the room a dose of reality and said it was white people’s responsibility to advocate for more diversity, and it really struck a chord with everyone, especially Union.

Pompeo remarked how she “didn’t see enough color” when walking onto the set that day, and recalled a time when she approached a director of an endorsement project about hiring more individuals of color, E! News reports.

“This day has been incredible and there’s a ton of women in the room, but I don’t see enough color and I didn’t see enough color when I walked in the room today and I had a meeting with a director of another endorsement project that I’m doing. I said, you know when I show up on set I would like to see the crew look like the world that I walk around in every day and I think it’s up to all productions to make sure that your crew looks like the world we see,” Pompeo told everyone in the room. “As Caucasian people, it’s our job, it’s our task, it’s our responsibility to make sure that we speak up in every single room we walk into, that this is not ok and that we can all do better. It’s our job because we created the problem.”

Pompeo’s remarks definitely resonated with Union, as her facial reaction was shared all across social media.

“@itsgabrielleu‘s smirk is giving us, ‘Black women been telling y’all this but I know y’all will listen to my white colleague over here,’” one Twitter user commented.

Shonda Rhimes, the creator of Grey’s Anatomy, which Pompeo stars in, wrote on Twitter, “Go, Ellen, GO. @EllenPompeo”

But social media was definitely in agreement that Union’s reaction was a total mood.

On the topic of diversity, Union added that we can’t properly amplify the voices of those in marginalized groups if we don’t have people from those groups in our lives, Hello Giggles reports.

“It is a very hard thing to amplify voices that don’t really exist in your life,” Union said. “And if I wasn’t interacting daily with and have deep friendships with every marginalized group, I would have a really hard time passing the mic.”

“It’s the right thing to do. It’s been too long and the right thing is never done,” Pompeo commented at the end of the interview, tears in her eyes. “Live your life in the correct way and if you give a sh-t, if you care, you will change the people in your life.”

Watch the entire interview below:

Fighting for diversity and equality is so important, and we are glad that Pompeo and Union, along with Rodriguez and Roberts, are lending their voices to the cause.

Emily has also authored political articles for Restless Magazine and numerous inspirational and empowering pieces for Project Wednesday. When she isn't writing, she can be found flying off to her next adventure, attempting new recipes, listening to one of her infinite playlists on Spotify, or cuddling with her dogs. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter @emilycveith.