Viola Davis’ performance as Michelle Obama in the Showtime anthology series The First Lady, about America’s first ladies, has drawn mocking and fierce backlash on social media as viewers called the Oscar-winner’s portrayal of the former first lady “insulting.”
Social media users have been posting short video clips that show Davis in character with her lips tightly held together. Davis’ facial expression left several viewers aghast.
Celebrity news website TMZ noted the pursed, disapproving lips appear to resemble the so-called “duck face” frequently used in selfies that make the subject look like they had just finished sucking on a lemon.
Viola Davis in Michelle Obama in The First Lady. Showtime/Mark Wilson/Getty Images
The hashtag #thefirstlady has been created to let critics express themselves.
Davis has since gone public to defend her performance.
In addition to Obama, the 10-episode series that launched Sunday night also features first ladies Betty Ford, wife of President Gerald Ford, and Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Michelle Pfeiffer took on the role of Betty Ford, while Gillian Anderson portrays Eleanor Roosevelt.
Michelle Obama has not commented personally on the Viola Davis controversy.
Davis previously fretted over nailing Michelle Obama’s “boss”-like walk. “She walks like a boss,” Davis said in an interview with Variety.
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