I don’t mean to make this a thing about misogyny. I actually thought the Emmys were great. But anytime I watch a performance that I feel was a little sloppy, I see so many people excusing their performance, saying, “Well, they didn’t have enough time. Well, someone wrote that for them.” Or, “They don’t get to produce it, so someone else made them do that.”
Being behind the scenes, I know that that’s not true. When you’re hosting something, when you are giving a speech at something, when you are doing a stand-up set on a show, you do have control. I see excuses being made for men a lot more, like, “Well, that audience was too liberal,” or that audience was too stuffy, or they didn’t have enough time. And I’m like, Then you turn down the gig if you don’t have enough time.
I don’t see that often where a woman doesn’t do well. I don’t see them coming to rescue me in the comments. I see, “Why didn’t Tina Fey host this? Why didn’t they get Sarah Silverman?” I see people saying, “She sucks. Why didn’t they get someone else?” Instead of, “That was a really rough gig, actually. That wasn’t easy to do.”
That’s why I don’t read the comments on things for myself. So maybe they are coming to my rescue and I’m not paying attention [laughs]. But I pay attention to other people’s comments. What I see is that women, you don’t get the leeway to fuck up. You are given these opportunities, and you better nail it. And if you don’t, they’ll replace you. Let me be clear about that. I think we all deserve that. I want that benefit of the doubt; I just don’t think that I get it. So I don’t have the room to fuck up. I don’t have the room to fail.
Hair, Dennis Gots; makeup, Jenna Kristina; manicure, Alex Jachno; tailor, Susie Kourinian; set design, Danielle Von Braun; food stylist, Casey Dobbins. Produced on location by Crawford & Co Productions. For details, go to VF.com/credits.
