Donald Glover reflects on being ‘diversity hire’ for 30 Rock

Donald Glover has recently shared that Tina Fey only hired him as a writer on 30 Rock because of “NBC’s diversity initiative”.

In a new interview with GQ magazine, Glover talked about his first writing job on the popular sitcom in 2006.

“It was a diversity thing,” disclosed Glover.

He continued, “There is no animosity between us or anything like that,” but added, “[Tina Fey] said it herself.”

“The last two people who were fighting for the job were me and Kenya Barris,” explained the 39-year-old.

The comedian stated, “I didn’t know it was between me and him until later.”

Glover recalled, “It definitely didn’t feel like I was supposed to be there.”

“I used to have stress dreams every night where I was doing cartwheels on the top of a New York skyscraper with the other writers watching me,” he added,

Earlier in 2018, the Atlanta star spoke to New Yorker about “being hired just because I am Black”.

The outlet reported that Fey had said that “the answer was in large part yes; she admired Glover’s talent but hired him because funds from NBC’s Diversity Initiative ‘made him free’”.