Fact check: Elizabeth Banks chose to use an award show to call out Steven Spielberg for not directing any films with female leads. When the audience corrected her, noting that Spielberg had directed The Color Purple, she, in true feminist fashion, did not allow actual facts to derail her argument.

1. Summary of the results

Elizabeth Banks did make an incorrect statement about Steven Spielberg never directing female-led films at the 2017 Women in Film Awards ^[1]. When audience member Shari Belafonte pointed out The Color Purple, Banks initially questioned whether Spielberg had directed it and appeared confused ^[2]. She later apologized on Twitter, acknowledging her mistake and calling The Color Purple an "iconic" film ^[1].

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

Several important contextual points were omitted from the original statement:

• While Banks was incorrect, her broader point about gender representation had merit - Spielberg has only directed three female-led films out of 30 total films: The Color Purple ^[3], The Sugarland Express ^[4], and The BFG ^{[5] [2]}.
• The issue extends beyond Spielberg - female protagonists made up only 29% of top 100 films during that period ^[6].
• Banks later clarified she was thinking specifically of Spielberg's recent films when making her statement ^[2].
• At the time of the controversy, Spielberg was already working on "The Papers" starring Meryl Streep, further contradicting Banks' claim ^[7].

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

The original statement contains several misleading elements:

• The phrase "in true feminist fashion" attempts to discredit feminism as a whole based on one person's mistake, revealing clear bias.
• The statement suggests Banks "did not allow actual facts to derail her argument," when in fact she later issued a public apology and took responsibility for her inaccurate statements ^[1].
• The statement omits that Banks' broader intent was to discuss diversity in filmmaking, not to specifically attack Spielberg ^[7].

This incident has been used by both sides of the gender representation debate in Hollywood:

• Those advocating for more female representation use the statistics about the low percentage of female-led films ^[6]
• Critics of feminism use Banks' mistake to discredit broader arguments about gender inequality in Hollywood, as demonstrated in the original statement's tone.