Rashida Jones Has a Brand New Office
Today I learned that Rashida Jones’ older sister, Kidada, was engaged to Tupac Shakur when he was murdered in 1996. Apparently, the two got together after Rashida publicly responded to some not-so-nice comments Pac made about the Jones sisters’ parents (music mogul, Quincy Jones and Mod Squad babe, Peggy Lipton) being in an interracial relationship. Crazy, right?
I came upon this information because Rashida and her writing partner Will McCormack (whom she co-wrote the screenplay for last year’s Celeste and Jesse Forever with) have just signed a two-year T.V. deal with Warner Brothers (they will “develop, write and produce their own comedy and drama projects”) and that is just one of the many fun facts my low-grade stalking led me to uncover. As a lot of writers draw material from their own lives, I was SUPER excited to hear that we’ll be getting more from Rashida’s vault, because that lady and her family have a super interesting background.
The babely Harvard graduate, who has apparently dated Tobey McGuire, Mark Ronson and Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau (all unbeknownst to me until today), claims that she was a “straight-up nerd” as a kid and “had a computer with floppy disks and a dial-up modem before it was cool.” As someone who faked failing an eye exam so that glasses would legitimize my nerdiness, this makes me love her more than I did when I realized she was in the Chappelle Show faux-commercial for Roca Pads. (“GIRL. I got somethin’ that’ll keep your flow motherf*ckin’ TIZIGHT!”)
It’s also worth noting that Rashida’s deal marks another rung of progress for 1. women writers and 2. women of color on/in t.v. There’s a great piece over here on why women (and women of color, especially) are so absent from the t.v. writing profession and how lovely ladies like Mindy Kaling and Shonda Rimes (not to mention our own Molly McAleer) are really paving the way for the rest of us.
WHO RUN THE WORLD?! (I’m still reeling from Beyoncebowl).
Congrats, Rashida!
Featured image via Deadline.com
