HBO’s Confirmation was always going to be mired in controversy: It digs up a particular part of American political, legal, and racial history many on Capitol Hill would rather the public forget. And like any film attempting to recreate said Washington, D.C., nightmare, naturally, it’s been accused of bias. Just yesterday, a former George W. Bush counsel launched a website dedicated to fact-checking Confirmation for inaccuracies and biases against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Kerry Washington, who plays Anita Hill in the film, has heard it all before, and she has a big fat eye roll for the naysayers. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, she gives her best Olivia Pope response: “A lot of that feedback is coming from people who haven’t seen the film, so it’s a typical conversation to have … It’s not a propaganda movie. It’s a movie about complicated people in a really complex situation doing the best they could with the tools they had at the time.”
In fact, Washington says her politics — she and Shondaland have publicly endorsed Hillary Clinton — are so far removed from the film, that she won’t even say whether or not she thinks Thomas should’ve been confirmed to the Supreme Court. “There is this idea that I’m making the film for a political agenda,” she explains. “I’m reluctant to answer those questions because this film is not about my personal politics. It’s about a vital moment in our shared history as a country.” She also defers to the film’s screenwriter, Susannah Grant, on rumors that Joe Biden asked HBO to make changes to the film, because years of playing a badass crisis manager means you’ll never catch her off guard. Not today, not ever. Nice try, haters.
