Amy Robach Sorry for Using Offensive Term to Describe Zendaya Coleman
“Good Morning America” co-anchor Amy Robach apologized for using the term “colored people” when discussing actress Zendaya Coleman and her upcoming role as Mary Jane Watson in “Spider-Man: Homecoming” on Monday.
“This morning during a segment about Hollywood casting, I mistakenly said ‘colored people’ instead of ‘people of color.’ I sincerely apologize. It was a mistake and is not at all a reflection of how I feel or speak in my everyday life,” Robach said in a statement.
“Now we all know Hollywood has received recent and quite a bit of criticism for casting white actors in what one might assume should be a role reserved for colored people,” Robach said on Monday’s edition of the ABC morning show.
Also Read: 'Fashion Police's' Kathy Griffin to Giuliana Rancic: 'Don't Have Anyone Write You Jokes'
The term “colored people” was used during segregation and is often considered derogatory. Mary Jane Watson has historically been a white character, famously played in the Sam Raimi series of Spider-Man movies by Kirsten Dunst.
Oddly, Coleman’s race was also at the center of a controversy when “Fashion Police” co-host Giuliana Rancic mocked her hair, which resulted in Kathy Griffin and Kelly Osbourne leaving the E! show.
Twitter went after Robach for using the term.
@arobach did you just say??? #gma #coloredpeople pic.twitter.com/f8mjjsWeGw
— Mr Sinister (@Csampson71) August 22, 2016
Colored people? Really? @GMA PLEASE educate your journalist! Mistake? Let's hope so. #GMA #epicfail #amyrobach pic.twitter.com/0XIPDXSxlG
— Jill Karshell (@JillKarshell) August 22, 2016
Ok @GMA please talk to #amyrobach. If she says #coloredpeople again I'll have to find a new a.m. program to watch-she gets a pass this time
— FABWP (@_fabwp) August 22, 2016
First time in a while I turn on #gma and I hear @arobach say "colored people" in a story. So apparently I woke up in the 1950s ???? #really
— Cinnamon B Hernandez (@neicilaw) August 22, 2016
@GMA can you please tell #amyrobach the term is "People of color" we no longer say "Colored People"
— Trina Slade-Burks (@dizeimage) August 22, 2016
COLORED, GIRL?! @arobach
— .THE GREAT 28 (@TooSoonJunes) August 22, 2016
@arobach What apologize for your "colored people" remark? Isnt that what the NAACP stands for? People looking to fight even against nothing.
— Alan Gates (@servmgr2004) August 22, 2016
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