Black Hollywood says they want to overcome stereotypes, I prove they perpetuate them

Black actors and producers in Hollywood claim they work hard to overcome stereotypes in how they portray black people in film and television, but I wrote about an experience in my new book that proves they actually perpetuate them.

Surprisingly enough, Entertainment Tonight picked up on this after reading a story about a script I was reviewing for an audition back in 2014. It was for the show Black-ish, which was pitched as a modern take on The Cosby Show. It is anything but, let me tell you.

One glance at the script and I knew I couldn’t audition for this show because of how it portrayed blacks. The blatant hypocrisy oozed from its pages, as I read reinforced stereotype after reinforced stereotype. Needless to say, Hollywood always goes for the stereotype no matter what they say to the contrary.

ET published an excerpt from chapter seven of my book that covers all the details. Check it out below:

In 2014 Black-ish, a show that was supposed to be “The Cosby Show for modern times,” debuted. I didn’t want to audition for it, but my manager Nathan made me go. He said something about needing to put food on the table. One of the lines in my audition was when a man says to his wife, “Didn’t you see Roots?”

She says,”Yeah,” but he knows she has really never seen the iconic miniseries about slavery.

“You’ve never seen Roots because you’re not all black,” he says. “You’re mixed.”

“Yeah, well tell that to my ass and my hair,” she replies. I put down the script and looked at Nathan. “Really?” Why would they do a show about being black that has such ridiculous stereotypes? It’s the twenty-first century. Get on with it. Are we supposed to believe that one’s blackness is defined by hair, body type, and television miniseries preferences? Please. The producers of this show are only perpetuating stereotypes: all black people must play the same sports, think the same thoughts, live in the same type of neighborhood, eat the same foods, and watch the same television. (By the way, I don’t even get why a channel like BET exists. I understand Telemundo. Spanish is a different language. But BET? We don’t speak a different language, so we don’t need a special channel. Are we missing a chromosome? Is there something different about our DNA? If you had an all white channel I think all hell would break loose.)

After Black-ish debuted, it even had an episode where the oldest son joined the Young Republicans at school to impress a girl. His parents were apoplectic. His dad said, “There are certain things in life that are just true. Fact: The Earth revolves around the Sun. Fact: Two times two is four. And fact: Black people aren’t Republicans. We just aren’t. We vote for Democrats.” He added, “Sure, the other side may trot out a token black face every now and again, but the fact of the matter is, being a black Republican is something we just don’t do.”

The mother also reacted very strongly to the news: “Republican? … No! … We don’t do that, Dre! We are compassionate liberals who believe in tolerance, acceptance, open–”

Then the dad interrupted: “Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. But we’re black, alright? That’s all that matters. We’re black.”

With its heavy-handed reinforcement of cultural stereotypes, Black-ish was no Cosby Show.

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