Natasha Lyonne tells off a sexist journo who says pretty women can’t act

Author: | Filed under: Celebrities

The third season of Orange is the New Black hit Netflix about 10 days ago. Natasha Lyonne plays one of my favorite characters, Nicky Nichols, so it’s nice to see her doing promotion. Most of the show’s recent magazine covers feature Taylor Schilling because Piper is still considered the main character. She’s the trojan horse who watches all the prison drama unfold, so it makes sense that the press wants to hear from her. Laverne Cox also gets press coverage, but the show’s other actresses are interesting too.

Natasha and Samira Wiley spoke to Brazilian journalist Rafael Cortez at a junket. He warmed up by saying some random stuff about muscles to Uzo Aduba. Then it was Natasha and Samira’s turn. Cortez told them how hard it is to be both attractive and a good actress: “Beautiful ladies like you, it’s very hard to do the acting. You start to be angry and fighting with each other on those days.” As Natasha whipped out her side eye, Samira started to answer with an “I think there are some stereotypes that women are very catty on set with each other.” Well Natasha took over:

“I feel like it’s accidentally maybe a little bit misogynistic. ‘You’re so beautiful, what’s it like to have to do all that acting?’ I can’t tell if that’s the question, but if it is, it’s insane. Despite great beauty on the show, everybody is, you know, professional and talented and very capable. So I don’t think that anybody’s thinking about something as meaningless as their beauty when they’re at work or certainly not this show.”

[From YouTube]

Cortez didn’t take any of this seriously. He showed Natasha and Samira a photo of a Brazilian “actress” (“I think she’s a professional“) and asked them to get her hired on the show! He showed them a photo of Suzane von Richthofen, who is a murderess now in prison for killing her parents. He was telling a joke, perhaps, but he came off as a complete misogynist. Both Natasha and Samira had enough at this point. I’m glad Natasha schooled this guy. He probably didn’t learn anything, but this stuff needed to be said.

Here’s the cringeworthy interview clip. Natasha and Samira appear at the 1:20 mark.

Natasha Lyonne