Sharon Stone Praised for Saying Viola Davis 'Every Bit as Good' as Meryl Streep

Sharon Stone became a talking point on Twitter on Tuesday evening, after saying that Viola Davis is just as good an actress as Meryl Streep in a recent interview.

During Stone's interview with Everything Zoomer, writer Johanna Schneller referenced a line in the star's memoir, The Beauty Of Living Twice, about Hollywood pitting women against each other, leaving room for "only one."

However, Stone took umbrage to the direction of the conversation, when Schneller started a follow-up statement about when the actress "finally got to work with Meryl Streep" on Steven Soderbergh's 2019 Netflix film The Laundromat.

"I like the way you phrase that, that I finally got to work with Meryl Streep," Stone said as she interrupted her interviewer. "You didn't say, 'Meryl finally got to work with Sharon Stone.' Or we finally got to work together.

"Because that's the way her life went, she got built up to be, 'Everyone wants to work with Meryl,'" Stone continued. "I wonder if she likes that?

"The way you structured the question is very much the answer to the question," Stone went on. "The business was set up that we should all envy and admire Meryl because only Meryl got to be the good one. And everyone should compete against Meryl. I think Meryl is an amazingly wonderful woman and actress.

"But in my opinion, quite frankly, there are other actresses equally as talented as Meryl Streep. The whole Meryl Streep iconography is part of what Hollywood does to women.

"Viola Davis is every bit the actress Meryl Streep is. Emma Thompson. Judy Davis. Olivia Colman. Kate Winslet, for f***'s sake. But you say Meryl and everybody falls on the floor."

Stone's praise of Davis—who co-starred with Streep in the critically-acclaimed 2008 film Doubt—was not lost on Twitter users, who took to the micro-blogging platform en masse to commend her statement.

"Meryl Streep's a phenomenal actress," wrote @meralee727. "She's starred in some of the best and most iconic movies of all time BUT Sharon Stone isn't wrong. She didn't insult Meryl, she just said there are other actresses like Viola Davis who are just as talented & deserve to be recognized as well."

Said @iamJMundel: "I really love Meryl Streep but Sharon Stone isn't wrong. Is she? Viola Davis is toe to toe with Meryl and Kate Winslet and Judy Davis are also at the top of the list. They still don't get as attention as Meryl gets."

"Yup, and she's 100% correct here, especially about Viola Davis," tweeted @jenhen. "It's always a mistake to write off Sharon Stone."

"I remember the days when they used to disrespect Viola Davis by describing her as the 'Black Meryl Streep'. So, I say keep talking Sharon Stone," said @TvKhaleesi.

"Sharon Stone is right," wrote @reyah_n. "Meryl Streep is a amazing actor, but the are other amazing actors who deserve the same acclaim and prestige and chances. This is in a world where people call Viola Davis the black Meryl Streep. No that's just VIOLA DAVIS. An amazing talent on her own."

"Meryl Streep is a near-perfect actress. But the likes of Glenn Close, Amy Adams, Julianne Moore, Rooney Mara, Brie Larson, Emily Blunt, Viola Davis, Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh, Kerry Washington and Regina King are just as great on their best day. Sharon Stone is 100 percent right," said @jester_aidan.

"Sharon Stone tells no lies, though," @PieceDeReSister tweeted. "Meryl Streep is an amazing actress and a wonderful person. But Sharon is right. There are others who are equally great. Glenn Close. Viola Davis. Regina King. Emma Thompson..."

Sharing a gif of Davis in celebratory mode, @CathyWanza wrote: "I'm just here for the Viola Davis appreciation and accolades."

Elsewhere in her interview with Everything Zoomer, Stone also compared her own acting talents to those of Streep, saying: "I'm a much better villain than Meryl, and I'm sure she'd say so. Meryl was not gonna be good in Basic Instinct or in Casino.

"I would be better. And I know it. And she knows it. But we're all set up to think that only Meryl is so amazing that when you say her name it must have been amazing for me to work with her."

"That's how you're set up to ask the question," Oscar nominee Stone added. "That's how we're set up to think. Because I could never... touch the height... We're all labelled the Queen of Something. I'm the Queen of Smut! She's the Queen of That! We all have to sit in our assigned seats.

"Are you kidding me? If we worked in a supermarket, she can't always be the No. 1 checkout girl. We're all doing our jobs. Everybody gets to get better, and everybody gets to sometimes have that not great a day. Even... Meryl."

Newsweek has contacted representatives for Sharon Stone, Meryl Streep and Viola Davis for comment.