So respected veteran actress of the Hollywood industry made a really controversial statement recently, when she was in Berlin heading up her first international film jury. When she was asked if she was familiar with world cinema, particularly films from Africa and the Middle East, she said she had recently seen the Jordanian film “Theeb,” about a Bedouin boy on a hazardous mission in the desert, and also “Timbuktu,” about Islamist militants taking over the fabled Malian city. But what really caught everyone’s attention was:

The thing that I notice is that there is a core of humanity that travels right through every culture. And after all, we’re all from Africa originally, you know. We’re all Berliners; we’re all Africans, really.

This statement followed an uproar over the all-white Oscar acting nominee selection for a second straight year. The brouhaha forced the movie industry to confront how blacks, Asians and Latinos are represented in Hollywood.

It later came to light that Meryl Streep’s “We’re all Africans, really” comment was a direct response to a question about Arab and African films, not a response to questions about the Film Festival’s all white jury, as originally suggested. But according to science, we really are all Africans, so even if she was taken out of context, she’s might still be right.

Watch the video below:

[zkk_poll post=19825 poll=content_block_standard_format_5] Featured image via The Daily Beast.