Jay Leno<\/a>\u2019s failure to invite her on The Tonight Show when Girlfriends was at the height of its success.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Tracee Ellis Ross has questioned whether racism was behind Jay Leno\u2019s failure to invite her on The Tonight Show when Girlfriends was at the height of its success<\/p>\n
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\u2019s What Now? podcast while recalling her confusion when stars of less-watched television shows were welcomed on to the late-night programme.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Tracee said: \u201cNo Tonight Show, no David Letterman, no Emmys. Had never been to the Emmys.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t<\/p>\n
She recalled one particular response concerning an appearance on Jay\u2019s programme. <\/p>\n
\nTracee added: \u201cAs a matter of fact, I have a story. It was Jay Leno. And I had Girlfriends, and the comment was, \u2018We love Tracee. Call us when she gets something\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nShe added: \u201cI was like, I remember thinking, \u2018Get what? What else do you have to get?\u2019 I don\u2019t know. And it just was\u2026 \u2018We love her,\u2019 but it was not considered.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nJay hosted The Tonight Show with Jay Leno for most of the period between 1992 and 2014.<\/p>\n
\nTracee 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.<\/p>\n
\nShe said: \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nTracee added: \u201cAnd I remember seeing him on the show and I was so confused. And I was like, \u2018I don\u2019t understand. Is it viewership?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\nShe said: \u201cAnd the only thing you can boil it down to, you\u2019re like, \u2018Is it just racism?\u2019 I\u2019m not sure how to \u2013 how do you categorise it? I don\u2019t know what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nGirlfriends, 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.<\/p>\n
\nThe programme received 29 NAACP Image Award nominations during its run but only one Emmy nomination, for outstanding cinematography for a multi-camera series.<\/p>\n
\nTracee said she did not attend the Emmys until her subsequent ABC sitcom Black-ish received nominations.<\/p>\n
\nShe became widely known for playing Rainbow \u201cBow\u201d Johnson opposite Anthony Anderson in Black-ish, which ran for eight seasons. <\/p>\n
\nThe performance earned Tracee a Golden Globe and five Primetime Emmy nominations.<\/p>\n
\nHer 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.<\/p>\n
\nTracee 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. <\/p>\n
\nHer engagement ran until the production closed on August 9. <\/p>\n
\nThe play, written by Duncan Macmillan, with Jonny Donahoe, explores depression, grief and the reasons a person can find to continue living.<\/p>\n
\nTracee 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.<\/p>\n
\nAway from acting, she has expanded her Pattern Beauty business, launching the company\u2019s first vibrating flat iron as part of a new Heat Collection this month, with a campaign featuring Anderson Paak, and Ryan Destiny.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"16 August 2026 Tracee Ellis Ross has questioned whether racism was behind Jay Leno\u2019s failure to invite her on The Tonight Show when Girlfriends was at the height of its success. Tracee Ellis Ross has questioned whether racism was behind Jay Leno\u2019s failure to invite her on The Tonight Show when Girlfriends was at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":257848,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[4395,5785,1219,16478,16474,970,16476,16479,16477,1206,16475,16480,6042,5265,215],"class_list":{"0":"post-257847","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-make-up","8":"tag-anderson-paak","9":"tag-anthony-anderson","10":"tag-daniel-radcliffe","11":"tag-duncan-macmillan","12":"tag-golden-brooks","13":"tag-jay-leno","14":"tag-jill-marie-jones","15":"tag-jonny-donahoe","16":"tag-mara-brock-akil","17":"tag-mariska-hargitay","18":"tag-persia-white","19":"tag-ryan-destiny","20":"tag-tony-shalhoub","21":"tag-tracee-ellis-ross","22":"tag-trevor-noah"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}