14 DAY TRIAL // Giuliana Rancic came under heavy fire online for saying Zendaya Coleman’s dreadlocks at the Oscars 2015 made her think she smelled of “patchouli oil and weed,” but as it turns out, she was set up to look this racially insensitive.
Despite claims to the contrary, the joke was especially written for Giuliana and then the footage was edited out to make her look bad, The Wrap has learned. The script for this particular episode of the Fashion Police has leaked online.
Rancic did say she meant something else
In her first statement on the controversy, Rancic explained that she didn’t meant to stereotype Zendaya, but rather that she was trying to say she was going for a boho chic look, which she didn’t think was a good one for the event in question.
Her comment sparked even more criticism and ridicule online, because based on the footage aired, it looked as if she was trying to come up with excuses out of thin air, just so she wouldn’t have to admit she was wrong.
Eventually, a remorseful Giuliana recorded a proper apology, which E! aired within hours. The scandal didn’t die here, because co-host Kelly Osbourne also got involved - and fired in the process.
For her part, 18-year-old Zendaya gracefully accepted the apology and has since moved on. Paparazzi caught up with her at the airport the other day, and she refused to engage them on this topic, saying all that was behind her already.
E! set Rancic up, let her take the fall
However, the script proves that Rancic was never at fault in the way we thought she was. Even worse, E! set her up and then idly stood by and let her take the fall: while she was being ripped to shreds on social media, the network didn’t as much as acknowledge the controversy, let alone speak up for Rancic, who had been with them for years.
So here’s what the script for the scene said, with the underlined part being left out in editing:
“I love Zendaya’s style and I love when she has the little hair, she just had it. She has such a tiny frame that this hair to me overwhelms her, it’s really heavy it overwhelms her [and it’s just like too Boho. Zendaya is more high fashion. The hair to me, on her, is making her a little boho] like I feel like she smells like patchouli oil and weed.”
The writers did initially have Rancic make the boho chic comment, after all.
In the end, it looks like the scandalous comment was yet another instance of television making a desperate grab for ratings.
