Source: Gregg DeGuire/Bertrand Rindoff Petroff / Getty
British publication
In a Wednesday roundup of The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment breakfast gala, the British publication Daily Mail mistakenly identified Kerry Washington as Zoë Kravitz.
Three photo captions of Washington mistakenly ID’d her as she was captured at the event with fellow thespians, Charlize Theron and Reese Witherspoon.
“Talent: Theron and Zoe Kravitz linked up backstage at the THR event,” read one caption read complete with a photo of Washington, 42, and Theron, 44. Another read, “Hug it out: The Monster star and the daughter of rocker Lenny Kravitz embraced warmly upon meeting at the event.”
And a third photo showed Washington standing solo with the caption, “Co-star: Reese’s co-star in the HBO hit Big Little Lies rocked a lacy corset top with a dark, flowing skirt.”
Washington was on hand to present Witherspoon, 43, with the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award. The two are slated to appear in an upcoming movie titled, “Little Fires Everywhere,” based on a 2017 novel by author Celest Ng, set in Ohio in the 1990’s. Kravitz did not attend the event.
The outlet has since corrected the mistake and apologized, according to Page Six, but social media had receipts.
“How dare a British daily news site get queens mixed up, saying this was @ZoeKravitz instead of Kerry. They need diverse fact checkers or sum idk. But we love all of these ladies; their acting alone is beyond!” a Twitter account named @CelebutanteBlog wrote.
Another commenter wrote, “Daily Mail…hire some people with an actual clue! That is not Zoe Kravitz… its Kerry Washington.”
Last year The New York Times mistook Angela Bassett for Omarosa Manigault Newman, causing a retraction after a social media firestorm.
And let’s keep it real, the only thing that is similar on Washington and Kravitz is their petite frames, and nothing else.
We know this isn’t the first time actors have been confused for one another, but it’s a particular kind of offense when it’s two Black actresses or two Black actors. The mix-up speaks to the fact that Black and brown journalists are widely unrepresented in newsrooms with large white readerships.
