Wanda Sykes accepted honors at Variety‘s Power of Women L.A. event on Wednesday evening, taking the stage for a speech in which she got candid about her preference for hiring women over men as a producer.
“My joy is when I’m able to hire somebody. And you know who I like to hire? Women. … I’ll be upfront with you. When it comes to a position and I look on the paper — she might be right here, and he’s up there,” Sykes said, putting out both of her hands, with the “man” one slightly elevated above the “woman” one. “I’m hiring the woman. That’s just how I operate. And I’ll be honest with you, if she’s a Black woman — oh, pssh. Girl, you got the job.”
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Sykes drew applause from the crowd, before the stand-up went back in to build to a laugh line: “When women thrive, the community thrives. We make everyone around us better. When you get women, when we win, everybody wins. When men win, sometimes they get a younger wife.”
The comedian and producer went on to elaborate on why she sees it as her responsibility as a producer to uplift women.
“What I plan on doing is to continue to create projects — and even in my stand-up — to speak and represent more of what powerful women can do. We’re at a moment in time where, with everything that’s going on in the government, we need to create projects where life imitates art,” Sykes said. “Looking at what’s happening with cutting SNAP benefits — that’s going to affect single mothers. I want to do things that speak to them and uplift them. … Use your power to uplift women. If we did that, and if that’s the way we moved, we would have two female presidents by now.”
For Variety‘s Power of Women L.A., Sykes was introduced by Jane Fonda. Sykes’ speech also spotlit the Ruth Ellis Center, a Detroit-based nonprofit that offers housing and resources to homeless, runaway and at-risk queer youth.
“The kids expressed how much that place meant to them — and you could see it,” Sykes said about visiting the group’s premises for the first time in her Variety cover story. “Immediately I was like, ‘I’m on board. What do y’all need? What can I do?’”
Along with Sykes, Variety‘s Power of Women L.A. event featured honors for and speeches by Kate Hudson, Sydney Sweeney, Nicole Scherzinger and Jamie Lee Curtis.