‘Karen’ Star Taryn Manning Details How Her Hollywood Career Has Suffered Because Of Her Faith And Defense Of Donald Trump
Actress Taryn Manning had a steady career at one point before she starred in the BET thriller Karen. Regular roles on the hit show Orange Is the New Black and in movies such as 8 Mile were common for her. However, she fell out of favor and found herself canceled in recent years.
As a guest on the Pop Culture Crisis podcast, she revealed this was a deliberate move within the industry and the cause was the two-fold usual suspects of religion and politics.
Manning, first off, considers herself a Christian and credits her faith with saving her life, which is why she is proudly “out about it.” The next “line” she crossed was saying something positive about Donald Trump, who isn’t liked on The West Coast.
“I didn’t know people didn’t like him,” she said, adding she was excited “He found God” when he held up a Bible. This declaration generated an instant backlash from her OITNB co-stars. “Every single girl called me and went crazy on me. They canceled me.”
Then her ban was solidified, she said, when she played the title character of an out-and-out racist in Karen. It’s a villain role, but “somebody has to do it.” Manning continued, “Ralph Fiennes can win an Oscar for playing a Nazi in Schindler’s List, but I play Karen and I’m dusted.”
How well Manning plays the roles of prisoners and racists was pointed out and even compared to Denzel Washington in Training Day. Some viewers fail to make a distinction between the real person and the part they play.
Others think Manning seeks these roles out but she demurs. “These are the roles I get,” she explained. Casting agents seek her out for them, not the other way around. Karen, which she also co-produced, was one of the few offers that came around so she took it.
The biggest issue the movie faced was, debuting in 2021, it aired in the shadow of the George Floyd incident and subsequent riots in the summer of 2020. It’s also believed the film and Manning’s part in it were swept up by cultural winds that started shifting in 2016.
Trump was elected President that year and a year later, cultural narratives would shift further with the popularity of thrillers like Get Out. It should be noted none of that film’s cast has been canceled for playing racist stereotypes.
We should also note that Manning’s retelling of events is one side of the story. One of the official reasons given for her booting from OITNB had to do with alcohol abuse and a stay in rehab. She’s also had run-ins with the law including multiple charges of domestic violence.
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