The O.J. Simpson trial was a source of major controversy during its heyday, which is what made Ryan Murphy's latest installment The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story such a highly anticipated project, which not only gave us details about the trial, but also what was going on behind the scenes. Because while a great deal of the attention was given to O.J. himself, there was someone else who was forced into the spotlight in an unflattering and unfair manner: Marcia Clark. So as a way to rectify that wrong, Sarah Paulson honored Marcia Clark in her Emmys speech Sunday evening with a sweet sentiment that succeeded in making all of our hearts collectively melt.
The responsibility of playing a real person is an enormous one. You want to get it right not for you, but for them. The more I learned about the real Marcia Clark, not the two-dimensional cardboard cut-out I saw on the news, but the complicated, whip-smart, giant-hearted mother of two who woke up every day, put both feet on the floor, and dedicated herself to righting an unconscionable wrong, the loss of two innocents, Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown, the more I had to recognize that I, along with the rest of the world, had been superficial and careless in my judgement and i am glad to be able to stand here today in front of everyone to tell you I am sorry.
Clark was treated so terribly throughout the trial by both her peers and the media as a whole, so it was so great to see her get at least a small form of justice for everything she was put through. It doesn't make up for everything, not by a long shot. And sadly, women even nowadays still find themselves getting objectified in the press in similar ways. But it was still such a nice gesture to make and hopefully will shed a clearer light on the fierce and admirable woman Clark really is.
