The Girlfriends star has recalled her confusion at being overlooked by major late-night shows despite the sitcom attracting bigger audiences than programs whose stars landed coveted appearances.
Tracee Ellis Ross has questioned whether racism was behind Jay Leno’s failure to invite her on The Tonight Show when Girlfriends was at the height of its success.
The 53-year-old actress, who played lawyer Joan Clayton throughout the eight-season run of Girlfriends, discussed the lack of mainstream recognition afforded to the hit sitcom during an appearance on Trevor Noah’s What Now? podcast while recalling her confusion when stars of less-watched television shows were welcomed on to the late-night programme.
Tracee said neither she nor co-stars Golden Brooks, Persia White and Jill Marie Jones received the opportunities she saw being given to actors appearing in other programmes.
Tracee said: “No Tonight Show, no David Letterman, no Emmys. Had never been to the Emmys.”
She recalled one particular response concerning an appearance on Jay’s programme.
Tracee added: “As a matter of fact, I have a story. It was Jay Leno. And I had Girlfriends, and the comment was, ‘We love Tracee. Call us when she gets something’.”
She added: “I was like, I remember thinking, ‘Get what? What else do you have to get?’ I don’t know. And it just was… ‘We love her,’ but it was not considered.”
Jay hosted The Tonight Show with Jay Leno for most of the period between 1992 and 2014.
Tracee said the situation became particularly confusing when she saw Tony Shalhoub promoting Monk, the detective comedy-drama in which he played obsessive-compulsive private investigator Adrian Monk.
She said: “I remember, specifically, the show Monk. Do you remember that show with Tony Shalhoub? That show had a quarter of our viewership. A quarter of our viewership.”
Tracee added: “And I remember seeing him on the show and I was so confused. And I was like, ‘I don’t understand. Is it viewership?’”
She said: “And the only thing you can boil it down to, you’re like, ‘Is it just racism?’ I’m not sure how to – how do you categorise it? I don’t know what it is.”
Girlfriends, created by Mara Brock Akil, ran from 2000 until 2008 and followed Joan and her friends Maya Wilkes, Lynn Searcy and Toni Childs as they navigated relationships, careers and friendship in Los Angeles.
The programme received 29 NAACP Image Award nominations during its run but only one Emmy nomination, for outstanding cinematography for a multi-camera series.
Tracee said she did not attend the Emmys until her subsequent ABC sitcom Black-ish received nominations.
She became widely known for playing Rainbow “Bow” Johnson opposite Anthony Anderson in Black-ish, which ran for eight seasons.
The performance earned Tracee a Golden Globe and five Primetime Emmy nominations.
Her comments about Girlfriends come shortly after she reunited with Golden, Persia and Jill when her former co-stars attended her Broadway run in Every Brilliant Thing in New York.
Tracee made her Broadway debut in the one-person play at the Hudson Theatre on July 7, taking over the role previously performed by Daniel Radcliffe and Mariska Hargitay.
Her engagement ran until the production closed on August 9.
The play, written by Duncan Macmillan, with Jonny Donahoe, explores depression, grief and the reasons a person can find to continue living.
Tracee has also recently returned with the second season of Solo Traveling with Tracee Ellis Ross, which follows her travelling alone to destinations including Melbourne, Switzerland and Thailand.
Away from acting, she has expanded her Pattern Beauty business, launching the company’s first vibrating flat iron as part of a new Heat Collection this month, with a campaign featuring Anderson Paak, and Ryan Destiny.
Tracee Ellis Ross asks whether racism was behind Jay Leno ‘snub’
