Elizabeth Banks Slams Steven Spielberg for ‘No Female Leads’— Black Twitter Slams Elizabeth Banks for Omitting ‘The Color Purple’

Steven Spielberg’s 1985 film The Color Purple started trending on Twitter following actress Elizabeth Banks remarks about Spielberg not having any female leads in his movies.

It happened at the Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards on Tuesday (June 13) where Banks was honored with the Crystal Award for work in film. During her speech, she urged attendees to expose their kids with movies that have female leads. She then called out Spielberg for never having female leads in his movies.

“I went to Indiana Jones and Jaws and every movie Steven Spielberg ever made, and by the way, he’s never made a movie with a female lead. Sorry, Steven. I don’t mean to call your ass out but it’s true," she told the crowd (quotes via The Wrap).

For the record, out of the 30 movies Spielberg has directed, two did have a female lead: the 1974 flick The Sugarland Express starring Goldie Hawn, and the 1985 film The Color Purple starring Whoopi Goldberg. However, Spielberg's upcoming drama The Papers, starring Meryl Streep as Washington Post publisher Kay Graham, will be his first movie to star an adult woman since 1985.

So technically, it's been 32 years since Spielberg has cast an adult female-led role for one of his movies. In the end, Banks' remarks weren't totally off base, it was just incorrect. Reportedly, someone in attendance mentioned the The Color Purple, but Banks moved past the correction, and seemed to be dismissive of it.

As if. Podcaster and writer Crissle quickly jumped on Twitter and corrected Thompson on her flub. For the record, The Color Purple garnered 11 Oscar nominations (including a Best Supporting Actress nod for Oprah Winfrey and a Best Actress nomination for Whoppi Goldberg) and grossed over $140 million worldwide. That's hardly a flop.

Anne Thompson has since apologized for her tweet. Elizabeth Banks has not responded to the "blacklash" of her remarks about Steven Spielberg.

Check out the Twitter reactions below.