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Getty Confused Kelly McCreary With Her Grey’s Anatomy Co-Star — This Has To Stop

Kelly McCreary is a Black actress on Grey's Anatomy. Jerrika Hinton is also a Black actress on Grey's Anatomy. When Getty Images confused these two women in a caption, McCreary posted a powerful message on Instagram about the visibility of Black women in media. After Sunday night's Emmy awards, the photo agency posted an image misidentifying McCreary as her Grey's co-star. McCreary posted the photo on Instagram with an appropriately scathing caption: "So I’ll just take this as an opportunity to do a quick PSA — Check your unconscious biases today," McCreary wrote. "We all have them. Managing them takes discipline, vigilance, and self-awareness, and you can practice it anytime. Why not do it today?"

LONG READ. I had the best time at the EW party Friday night, getting hyped for the Emmy’s, our upcoming Grey’s season premiere this Thursday, and celebrating artists who have created visionary, groundbreaking television for us to enjoy this fall. Saturday morning, I searched the internet for my carpet photos so I could post them here and give credit to my glam team who straight KILLT it, but I could find none. Finally, with a sinking feeling, I searched for the name of my castmate, Jerrika Hinton, who did not even attend the event. Lo and behold, there I was!! How did I know I would find them there? Well, because this isn’t the first time this has happened. Now Jerrika is a beautiful lady, inside and out, with talent for days. I would be flattered to be mistaken for her, if it didn’t seem like the all-too-frequent occurrence of this “mistake” indicated the careless conflation of two black actresses with curly hair on the same tv show. I wonder, does this happen when there are two blonde women in the same cast? When there are two dark-haired white dudes with blue eyes? Maybe it does. But I’ll tell you what— to constantly wonder whether I’m facing a micro-aggression I should call someone out on, or a harmless mistake I should let slide, is a real energy drain. The noise of the internal debate with myself is, as Maggie Pierce said last season, “like a low buzz.” Such is life for people in marginalized groups— including those of us with many privileges— noisy and draining. This morning, I discovered that Getty Images and some other outlets have corrected the error, and I am appreciative. So I’ll just take this as an opportunity to do a quick PSA—Check your unconscious biases today. We all have them. Managing them takes discipline, vigilance, and self-awareness, and you can practice it anytime. Why not do it today? And in the words of my castmate, I simply ask the folks who are in the business of identifying distinct and unique human beings to Do Better. That is all. Thanks.

A photo posted by Kelly McCreary (@seekellymccreary) on

The photograph shows McCreary at Entertainment Weekly's pre-Emmys party. On Instagram, she wrote that she was excited to appreciate the night's nominees and celebrate her own show's recent premiere. But when she searched for pictures of herself the next morning, she found that she had been mistaken for another Black woman with curly hair. "Now Jerrika is a beautiful lady, inside and out, with talent for days," McCreary wrote, after saying that the pair has been confused far too often. "I would be flattered to be mistaken for her, if it didn’t seem like the all-too-frequent occurrence of this 'mistake' indicated the careless conflation of two black actresses with curly hair on the same tv show." Mistakes like these are careless, but McCreary highlighted the community that's subject to these mixups the most: people of color. "I wonder, does this happen when there are two blonde women in the same cast? When there are two dark-haired white dudes with blue eyes? Maybe it does. But I’ll tell you what — to constantly wonder whether I’m facing a micro-aggression I should call someone out on, or a harmless mistake I should let slide, is a real energy drain," she wrote. McCreary wasn't the only Black star to be confused with totally different person on Sunday night. The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences — which handed out the Emmys at last night's ceremony — posted a tweet confusing Empire's Terrence Howard and The People v. O.J. Simpson star Cuba Gooding Jr.
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