Danielle Brooks, the actress who plays Taystee in “Orange is the New Black,” took to Twitter to complain about her own first-world problems, a purported microaggression she experienced this morning at the airport.
https://twitter.com/thedanieb/status/748471555789832193
Twitter was outraged on Brooks’ behalf.
@thedanieb You, too? Damn, I thought it was just this Latinx, queer, fat girl. Sorry you had to go through that.
— Maria Lima (@themarialima) June 30, 2016
@thedanieb Next time just reply, "They pay me enough per episode (gate agents name of airline name)"
— Desert Fox (@ILuvMyAfro) June 30, 2016
@thedanieb ew casual racism??? Go off girl
— nina misses halsey (@ninability) June 30, 2016
@thedanieb that's disgusting. which airline?
— Curtis Hughson (@curtis5303) June 30, 2016
@thedanieb tell them it's their lucky day too cause first month of Netflix is free so they can join
— jk (@waverbi) June 30, 2016
@thedanieb Damn, probably because of your skin color.
— Brian Newby (@Bboyhannibal) June 30, 2016
One user even suggested the flight attendant should be fired. (Nevermind that a flight attendant’s median salary is just $44,860—not exactly first-class wages.)
@thedanieb do they KNOW who you ARE?! ???? #theyshouldbefired
— Maolíosa (@melroihag) June 30, 2016
Brooks landed a key role on “Orange is the New Black” when she was just 22, not long after she graduated from Julliard. On her debut Broadway role as Sofia in The Color Purple, she was nominated for a Tony Award. She’s also become the star of Lane Bryant’s new collection by Christian Siriano. Nice work, if you can get it.
When she’s not jet-setting between runways, red carpets and sets, Brooks lives in a luxury one-bedroom apartment with a roof deck on the 26th floor of a Fort Greene, Brooklyn, apartment; the New York Times recently gushed about how her “view is spectacular.”
Maybe next time Brooks flies, she should check her privilege in the first-class line, too.
— Jillian Kay Melchior writes for Heat Street and is a fellow for the Independent Women’s Forum and the Steamboat Institute.
