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Ava DuVernay Fires Back at Men Who Aren’t Happy She Hires Female ‘Queen Sugar’ Directors: ‘Sue Me’

“Why did we do this?" DuVersay asks about hiring only women behind the camera. "Because we can create spaces that nourish in our own image."
Ava DuVernay attends the 35th Annual Paleyfest "Queen Sugar" at the Dolby Theatre, in Los Angeles35th Annual Paleyfest - Queen Sugar, Los Angeles, USA - 24 Mar 2018
Ava DuVernay
Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP/REX/Shutterstock

Queen Sugar” has aired 29 episodes across two seasons, and every single installment has featured a woman in the director’s chair. Ava DuVernay, who created the OWN series and has directed episodes herself, has used the family drama to champion female voices, but it turns out not everyone is happy about that fact. During this year’s Gloria Awards (via Vulture), DuVernay remembered a time when she found out certain men in the Director’s Guild of America took criticism with her all female directing roster on “Queen Sugar.”

DuVernay was told about the “complaints” by a director friend, to which she responded by saying, “I invite you to tell whoever is feeling discriminated against to sue me so that I can sue every studio that has left women out.  “Because we can do this, if that’s what you want to do.”

“Why did we do this?” DuVernay asked about assembling an all female directing staff. “Because we can. Because we can create spaces that nourish in our own image, in the same way that our male counterparts have created in their own image for over a century.”

DuVernay is sticking with her commitment to amplify female directorial voices on the OWN series. The third season of the show premieres May 29 on OWN, and the first three directors of the season are all women: DeMane Davis, Patricia Cardoso, and Lauren Wolkstein.

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