On Monday, ABC's Good Morning America and NBC's Today hailed actress Kerry Washington for her speech to the left-wing gay rights group GLAAD. On GMA, fill-in news reader Paula Faris proclaimed: "Calling all GLAADiators. Scandal star Kerry Washington trending big all weekend, giving a passionate speech as she accepted the Vanguard Award at the 2015 GLAAD Media Awards held in L.A. on Saturday night, sharing the importance of diversity in media."
A clip played of Washington declaring: "Because having your story told as a woman, as a person of color, as a lesbian or a trans person or any member of any disenfranchised community is sadly often still a radical idea. There is so much power in story-telling and there is enormous power in inclusive story-telling."
Faris glossed over GLAAD's liberal agenda and promoted the event: "The GLAAD Media Awards celebrate fair, accurate, and inclusive representation of the LGBT community."
On Today, 9 a.m. ET hour co-host Tamron Hall gushed over Washington's "spectacular speech" and referenced her TV character: "The scandal star stirred up the crowd at the 26th annual GLAAD awards over the weekend, while accepting her Vanguard Award for promoting equality. In a fiery seven-minute speech, Kerry spoke so strongly about the reality of diversity in the media that you might have thought it was Olivia Pope."
A soundbite ran of Washington demanding: "We need more diverse LGBT representation....we need more employment of LGBT people in front of and behind the camera."
Hall even hoped the celebrity would run for office: "Okay, prediction, twenty years from now she's gonna be a politician, she's gonna be a lawmaker, maybe even sooner than that."
GLAAD, or the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, has a long history of working to censor proponents of traditional marriage and social conservatives.
Here are transcripts of March 23 reports on GMA and Today:
Good Morning America
8:11 AM ET
PAULA FARIS: Calling all GLAADiators. Scandal star Kerry Washington trending big all weekend, giving a passionate speech as she accepted the Vanguard Award at the 2015 GLAAD Media Awards held in L.A. on Saturday night, sharing the importance of diversity in media. We want you to take a look.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Kerry Washington Stands Up for Equality]
KERRY WASHINGTON: Because having your story told as a woman, as a person of color, as a lesbian or a trans person or any member of any disenfranchised community is sadly often still a radical idea. There is so much power in story-telling and there is enormous power in inclusive story-telling.
FARIS: She looked stunning as well. The huge crowd at the Beverly Hilton giving her a standing ovation. The GLAAD Media Awards celebrate fair, accurate, and inclusive representation of the LGBT community.
Today
9:19 AM ET TEASE:AL ROKER: And what Scandal star Kerry Washington did that brought a cheering crowd to its feet. Details on the Pop Fix, coming up.
9:34 AM ET SEGMENT:
TAMRON HALL: Moving on to Kerry Washington's spectacular speech. The scandal star stirred up the crowd at the 26th annual GLAAD awards over the weekend, while accepting her Vanguard Award for promoting equality. In a fiery seven-minute speech, Kerry spoke so strongly about the reality of diversity in the media that you might have thought it was Olivia Pope. Take a look.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Kerry's Spectacular Speech; Washington Gets Standing Ovation at GLAAD Awards]
KERRY WASHINGTON: Pitted against each other and made to feel like there are limited seats at the table for those of us who fall into the category of other. We need more diverse LGBT representation. And by that I mean lots of different kinds of LGBT people living all different kinds of lives. And this is big – we need more employment of LGBT people in front of and behind the camera.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
HALL: Okay, prediction, twenty years from now she's gonna be a politician, she's gonna be a lawmaker, maybe even sooner than that.
