[Spoilers if you haven’t finished Orange Is the New Black season four]
Earlier this week, actress Samira Wiley joined the cast of You’re the Worst. It’s nice when talented people appear on our favorite shows (and You’re the Worst is certainly a favorite ’round these parts), but it came at a cost. In the penultimate episode of Orange Is the New Black season four, Wiley’s character, Poussey, is killed by CO Bayley. I still haven’t emotionally recovered. It’s a devastating scene — and the first time a fan-favorite character has died on the show since Rosa — but Wiley doesn’t want you to cry. Okay, she doesn’t want you to just cry. She also wants you to be mad.
“I think it says that people are often unaware of what’s going on right under their noses. They’re so upset, which is great. People are so upset, but at the end of the day, it is a TV show. It’s fiction, but we are trying our best to reflect what happens in the world every day and the fact that people are up in arms is great. I hope it can translate to them being up in arms about what’s going on in the real world.” (Via)
She doesn’t say it explicitly, but it sounds like Wiley is referring to what happened to Eric Garner, the unarmed Staten Island man who was choked and killed by an NYPD officer in 2014. The incident was captured on camera, but a jury decided not to indict the cop in question, anyway.
Both Poussey Washington and Eric Garner’s unfortunate deaths could have been easily avoided. The difference is, Poussey is a fictional character; Eric Garner was a living person. Wiley wants you to remember that.
(via E! Online)
