*Tracee Ellis Ross is looking back at an experience that still leaves her questioning why the success of “Girlfriends” wasn’t enough to get her a seat on some of television’s biggest late-night shows.
During an Aug. 13 appearance on Trevor Noah’s “What Now?” podcast, Ross recalled a particularly memorable exchange involving Jay Leno, who hosted “The Tonight Show” during much of the sitcom’s eight-year run.
“It was Jay Leno. And I had Girlfriends, and the comment was, ‘We love Tracee. Call us when she gets something,’” Ross explained.
The response left the actress confused because she was already starring as Joan Clayton on a successful series. “I remember thinking, ‘Get what? What else do you have to get?’ I don’t know,” she said. “And it just was… ‘We love her,’ but it was not considered.”
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Ross said the Leno situation wasn’t an isolated example of the lack of mainstream attention she experienced while “Girlfriends” was on the air. She told Noah that she received no invitations to appear on major late-night programs.
“But we certainly didn’t have it back then. No talk shows, no Tonight Show, no David Letterman, no Emmys. Had never been to the Emmys,” she said.
What made the lack of late-night exposure even more difficult for Ross to understand was seeing stars from shows with smaller audiences receive opportunities she didn’t.
“I remember, specifically, the show Monk,” she said. “That show had a quarter of our viewership. A quarter of our viewership.”
Ross recalled seeing Tony Shalhoub, who starred on “Monk,” appear on late-night television and wondering why the numbers didn’t seem to matter.
“And I remember seeing him on the show, and I was so confused,” she continued. “And I was like, ‘I don’t understand. Is it viewership?’”
The disparity ultimately led Ross to question whether race was a factor.
“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 categorize it? I don’t know what it is.”
Watch Tracee’s full conversation with Trevor in the clip below.
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