On Friday, social media let out a collective ‘wtf??’ after a trailer for an upcoming movie went viral: a white bartender disguises his voice as a stereotypical black woman’s to get the radio host job he couldn’t as a white man. They named the movie Loqueesha and I wish I was making this shit up but yet here we are.
The main character (played by Jeremy Saville who also wrote/directed) is a family man who needs to pull in some extra cash to secure bribes and falsify admissions applications send his son to an expensive private school for the ‘gifted’. One day, while watching some Jerry Springer-type circus of ig’nant black folks on TV, he thinks out loud, “That’s who needs their own show; if I were a black woman it’d be perfect.”
…as if black women have such privilege in the workforce…
With the help of what looks to be multiple thinly-written magical Negroes eager to help this white protagonist on his quest to embody a black woman, the man actually lands a job as Loqueesha...which is a major plot hole because no black woman in the history of colonized America has ever been hired for a job sight unseen. Ever. It’s literally never happened...particularly if your name is Loqueesha. In either case, minstrel Loqueesha takes over airwaves and catapults into radio stardom.
In one scene, a White-sounding woman named Bree calls to talk to Loqueesha:
“Oh I ain’t talkin’ to you; not the way you soundin’; next caller,” Loqueesha quips in AAVE before hanging up. A black listener is then seen praising Loqueesha for her blanket dismissal of all white people, “You go, gurrrl!”
Another scene, which I’m really hoping was taken out of context, shows a suicidal caller asking for advice as she stands ready to jump off a bridge.
“Well, thanks fo’ callin’; enjoy yo’ jump,” Loqueesha tells the woman nonchalantly.
Most see no humor in this. In fact, most people are still struggling to find the purpose of the movie as a whole. Yes, there’s probably a Hollywood ending where the white man walks away with greater appreciation for the plight of black folks or some other revelation of white guilt. But even that supposed saving grace doesn’t make this mess any better. The entire movie looks ill-advised and tone deaf at best, and the internet is giving a collective side-eye:
Watch the trailer below if you’re so inclined. Don’t say you weren’t thoroughly warned: