‘Shrill’ Accused of Plagiarizing Lauded Pool Party Scene, but Is It a Coincidence?
“Shrill” has received acclaim for an episode featuring a body-positive pool party, but one person is taking exception with it: author Virgie Tovar, who has accused the Hulu dramedy of lifting the scene from her book “Flawless” and a Tedx Talk she gave on the same subject. In response, Ijeoma Oluo — a friend of Sam Irby, who wrote the episode in question — has pointed out that the episode was filmed the same month that the book came out (August 2018) and any similarities are a coincidence stemming from the fact that such parties have been common for decades.
Tovar, who took her accusations to Instagram, wrote that she was “worried about speaking out both because I didn’t want to sully an important moment in fat representation for anyone (fat people have so little meaningful representation. I know how much this show means to people.) and in fear of being labeled as petty or adversarial (words that are coded and used against women and people of color often).”
Oluo’s first issue with that accusation is that it’s leveled against Lindy West, who wrote the book on which “Shrill” is based and also created the series, rather than Irby, the episode’s actual writer:
This was Sam’s one episode of the series. She’s the only black writer on the show. And she wrote the best episode. That matters.
Virgie is not accusing a white woman (Lindy) of stealing from her. She’s accusing a black woman.
— Ijeoma Oluo (@IjeomaOluo) March 22, 2019
So that leaves a Ted talk. You could either believe that Sam stole this from a Ted talk or that she got the idea from the countless other fat pool parties that have been happening since the 70’s.
As a fat, queer black woman, I’ve been invited to so many of these it’s annoying.
— Ijeoma Oluo (@IjeomaOluo) March 22, 2019
Once it was made clear that Sam was the writer of the episode, everyone should have taken some fucking pause before rushing to accuse a black woman of plagiarism because she wrote about a thing that many other fat women have experienced (and wrote about btw).
— Ijeoma Oluo (@IjeomaOluo) March 22, 2019
Hulu has not officially responded to Tovar’s statements. IndieWire has reached out for comment.
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