‘Scandal’ actress feted with parade and roast at Harvard
Actress Kerry Washington, Harvard University’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals’ Woman of the Year, holds up the pudding pot, Thursday, Jan. 28, 2016, as she is honored in Cambridge, Mass. AP Photo
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts — “Scandal” actress Kerry Washington took home a shiny little pudding pot Thursday after being feted with a raucous parade through Harvard Square and a roast by Harvard University’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals.
The nation’s oldest collegiate theatrical organization says it named Washington as Woman of the Year because she’s the first black woman to headline a network TV drama since 1974.
In a statement, the troupe called her a “talented and socially engaged film, TV and stage actress who keeps breaking barriers in Hollywood.”
Washington told WCVB-TV before the festivities kicked off that she was “crazy honored” to join the esteemed list of women that have been honored by the group.
READ: Washington wins 3 trophies at NAACP Image Awards
Previous Hasty Pudding honorees include Meryl Streep, Katharine Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor. Comedian Amy Poehler won last year.
“It’s surreal. I mean, it’s so crazy,” Washington told the station.
The 38-year-old actress also admitted she was nervous about the roast, which was her first.
In keeping with tradition, Washington made her way to the theater in style, riding in the back of convertible flanked by actors in colorful drag.
While on stage with Hasty Pudding actors, Washington did a throaty rendition of Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got to Do with It.”
At another point, she threw a pie at an actor dressed like Donald Trump and she later posed with the event’s signature golden pudding pot.
Washington stars as crisis management specialist Olivia Pope on the hit show “Scandal,” which debuted on ABC in 2012. She’s earned Golden Globe, Emmy and Screen Actors Guild nominations for the role.
Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, this year’s Man of the Year, will be feted by Hasty Pudding on Feb. 5.
