White* people do the darnedest things. Especially when it comes to comedy and television. But on the upcoming season premiere of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the creators and writers of the show went full-on tone-deaf when it comes to attempting to discuss race.
For its 12th-season premiere, the cast goes black. Nope, they didn't do blackface. Even though that was already done once. The fictional family instead gets a black transformation while watching The Wiz during a storm. Yes, you read that correctly. Instead of white actors playing the main characters, black actors will play the roles of Charlie, Frank, Dee and Mac, which could be a failed nod to Black Like Me.
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And, of course, they do black-people s—t, like say the n-word and a whole lot of other slang. Oh, and they also get arrested. Several times. Because … black.
Sure, there may be some deeply hidden political commentary, but this could have been done without the whole "We's turned black, y'all" trope. Why not just introduce a black family as neighbors? Why not just be white and find a funny and interesting way to discuss white privilege and racism? Because as a TV writer, I have a ton of those types of scripts.
But hey … anything to get ratings, right?
Guess who won't be watching this episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia? Or posting when it's actually airing.
*Some white people. I know how sensitive some of you can be with blanket statements.