Kerry Washington Credits Black Twitter for Keeping Scandal on the Air

In its fifth season, Scandal is now appointment television for millions of viewers. But Kerry Washington says ABC's hit show might not have survived its infancy without the groundswell of support from Twitter users.

At South by Southwest during a panel titled "The New Rules of Social Stardom," Kerry said that she nudged the show's creator, Shonda Rhimes, to encourage the cast tweet the show.

Her foresight might have propelled Scandal into it's remarkable success. "While we were filming the first season, I emailed Shonda and said ‘You’re the boss, could you ask the whole cast to live tweet it so that they all join in because they’ll feel like they have to?’ I truly believe that we wouldn’t have had a second season if it wasn’t for that engagement.”

h/t EW

Photo: Heather Kennedy/Getty Images for SXSW

Black Twitter Kerry Washington