Donald Glover claims Tina Fey told him he was a ‘diversity hire’-Meghna Amin-Entertainment – Metro

Tina hired Donald on 30 Rock (Picture: Getty / PA)

Comedian Donald Glover has claimed he was told he was a ‘diversity hire’ by Tina Fey.

In 2006, when he was just 23-years-old, Donald landed his first writing gig on sitcom 30 Rock.

He’s previously spoken about Tina hiring him on the show because he was ‘free’, and has now said she called him a ‘diversity hire’, as part of NBC’s diversity initiative.

The 39-year-old said: ‘There is no animosity between us or anything like that, but [Tina Fey] said it herself.

‘It was a diversity thing.’

He added to GQ: ‘The last two people who were fighting for the job were me and Kenya Barris.

‘I didn’t know it was between me and him until later.’

The Childish Gambino star recalled a conversation in which he was told it was a ‘diversity thing’ (Picture: Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images)

Tina Fey supposedly told him it was a ‘diversity’ thing’ (Picture: Bruce Glikas/WireImage)

The Childish Gambino star went on to say that the Black-ish creator ‘hit me one day and he was like, “I hated you for years”.’

‘It definitely didn’t feel like I was supposed to be there,’ he added.

Donald continued, about his imposter syndrome: ‘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.’

The writing gig was between Donald or Kenya Barris (Picture: Robin L Marshall/WireImage)

In an interview with The New Yorker, the Atlanta star has previously opened up about breaking into the industry as he questioned whether being black meant Tina was more likely to hire him.

As he spoke about the ‘anxiety’ he encountered when hiring black or mixed-race actors for his own show, he noted how his own skin colour may have influenced his career.

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He said: ‘I wondered, Am I being hired just because I’m black?’

In the article, the writer confirmed when speaking with Tina ‘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.”‘

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