In Vanity Fair's recent ode to late-night television, one thing was made unequivocally clear: The host desks are being manned overwhelmingly by, well, men. Mostly white ones, too, according to the picture which ran alongside the piece and featured Trevor Noah and Larry Wilmore as the only outliers. (Also of note: Where is T.J. Holmes, of Don't Sleep! Does BET not count, for some reason?)
While we can't fault the mag for representing who is actually on air these days, we are a little disgruntled about how the lead photo — which is captioned with a single word, "invigorated" — seems to glorify what is essentially a boy's club.
There's something very Mad Men-esque about this shot, and it's not just the spiffy suits or the Eames chair. The image itself conjures a very clear message about who matters enough to merit the spotlight, and manages to reinforce the status quo of who deserves acknowledgement — and, perhaps more tellingly, who does not.
Which is why we can't help but wonder: Why not add Samantha Bee and Chelsea Handler somewhere in the frame, instead of just bemoaning the lack of women in late night in the last paragraphs of the piece? Or maybe give Rachel Zoe credit where credit is due for her late-night Lifetime talk show? (Yes, it's about fashion. That doesn't matter. Plus she would have totally rocked a sweet suit for the shoot, we're sure of it.)
These guys look good in their Vanity Fair shoot, for sure — and they're all funny and talented, to boot. But at some point, it's time to stop decrying a lack of women and start getting real about moving things in the right direction. One way to do that: Get the gals who are already working in the genre into the frame of reference.
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