Viola Davis Wins People’s Choice Award, Throws Effortless Shade at NY Times’ ‘Less Classically Beautiful’

Viola Davis took home the award for Favorite Actress in a New TV Series at the 41st People’s Choice Awards last night, and her acceptance speech was a masterclass on how to ‘kill ‘em with success and bury ‘em with a smile!‘

If you recall, a few months back the NY Times posted an article in which they referred to Viola as ‘less classically beautiful.’

As Annalise, Ms. Davis, 49, is sexual and even sexy, in a slightly menacing way, but the actress doesn’t look at all like the typical star of a network drama. Ignoring the narrow beauty standards some African-American women are held to, Ms. Rhimes chose a performer who is older, darker-skinned and less classically beautiful than Ms. Washington, or for that matter Halle Berry, who played an astronaut on the summer mini-series “Extant.”

Well, last night as Viola accepted her award for her lead in ‘How to Get Away With Murder‘ — she used it as an opportunity to fire back at the NY times for those shady words.

She said,

“You know, we actors, we do it for you. We do it for the fans. We do it for the people. We do it to move you. We do it to provoke you. So thank you so much for this. Thank you Shonda Rhimes, Betsy Beers, and Peter Nowalk for thinking of a leading lady who looks like my ‘classic beauty.’ Thank you to my co-stars and my beautiful husband at home who has a bum knee and our daughter. I’m just so proud to be an actor and so happy to do what I do. And I’m so happy that people have accepted me in this role at this stage in my career. Thank you so much!”