Spirit Awards: ‘How To Die Alone’ Creator Natasha Rothwell Talks The Challenge Of Navigating “Fairness” During “A DEI Purge” And Celebrating Black Stories

deadline.com:

Despite a recent cancellation for Hulu comedy series How to Die Alone, the celebrations will not stop for creator and star Nathasa Rothwell.

The series followed Mel (Rothwell) a Black, plus-size and perpetually broke JFK Airport employee who’s never been in love and forgotten how to dream, until an accidental death scare challenges her to ignite her passions.

Rothwell, who won the Independent Spirit Award for Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series, spoke to Deadline ahead of the event on the Indie Spirits red carpet about the challenge of finding a new home for the series.  “Right now in Hollywood, there’s a DEI purge of programs, positions and projects,” she said. “And I feel it’s unfortunate that How to Die Alone was not able to survive that.

It was worthy by all merits. It was a critical success and we had the numbers and more importantly, we were centering marginalized voices.