Kelly McCreary On Being Mistaken for ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Costar Jerrika Hinton: ‘Check Your Unconscious Biases’

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 post shared by Kelly McCreary (@seekellymccreary) on Sep 19, 2016 at 9:42am PDT

Kelly McCreary keeps getting mistaken for her Grey’s Anatomy costar Jerrika Hinton, and she isn’t happy about it.

The TV beauty, 35, attended a pre-Emmys party on Friday, September, 16, but when she tried to look up photos of herself the next day, she couldn’t find them.

That’s because the photo agency covering the event had got her mixed up with Hinton, 34, who is also a beautiful black actress.

McCreary took to Instagram to write a lengthy and scathing message about the case of mistaken identity.

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 post shared by Kelly McCreary (@seekellymccreary) on Sep 19, 2016 at 9:42am PDT

After gushing about what a great time she had at the EW party she wrote: “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 cast mate, 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.”

She continued: “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.”

McCreary then posed the question: “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.”

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McCreary wasn’t the only black star to be confused with someone else on Sunday night. The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences posted a tweet confusing Empire‘s Terrence Howard and The People v. O.J. Simpson star Cuba Gooding Jr.