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Kenya Barris has finally unveiled the first project from his monumental move to Netflix.
#blackAF stars Barris playing himself to show what life is like as a Hollywood heavyweight with six children, a reality that has become increasingly challenging amid the coronavirus quarantine.
READ MORE: Kenya Barris files for divorce from wife of 20 years
“Right now I’m locked down with six kids,” Barris said. “They’re looking for something to break and I’m trying to create meals that feel like they’re not created by me. Shit is very real,” he says.
“It’s hard to be productive… I’m looking for an alien ship landing on CNN. That would make sense because everything is so crazy. It would make perfect sense for me right now. It’s pretty crazy,” he continues. “We are doing better in LA than a lot of the country. Hopefully, that continues and we can see some light at the end of this tunnel.”
One staple of #blackAF is that every episode is tied to slavery, no matter how much of a reach that feels like.
“Slavery is my Marvel universe of storytelling,” Barris says. “We were enslaved for 400+ years which is like 40 generations and they say it takes two generations for people to forget what things were like before that. So if it takes two generations for things to start changing, what does 40 generations after that look like?
What does 40 generations of a culture being told they are property, that they are nothing, are less than human look like? Then the harm of Jim Crow? We have been free for far less time in this country than we have been enslaved. I joke about it, but slavery is my north star. I can always draw a line back to how I think slavery in some way affects where we’re at and who we are today,” he explains.
“It’s not about always trying to send us back to that but, it’s like, how quickly did we lose affirmative action? Do you think that made up for it? I think it’s important that we don’t let it be forgotten. What we have come through and what we are going through is because of that. We haven’t even gotten a check yet. It has never been illegal. It’s not a crime.
The idea that slavery and everything that was done to slaves is not a crime is insane. As fucked up as the Holocaust was, and it was a horrible atrocity, there was a face to put to the evil. It allows for some healing. If someone was a slave owner, there’s no legal ramifications for that. There has never even been an official apology from this country. I think the idea of how that still affects us every day is important and something I don’t want to lose sight of.”
#blackAF feels a lot like Barris’ hit ABC series black-ish, which was followed up by the prequel sitcom mixed-ish starring Tika Sumpter. The similarly themed shows have generated some criticism, including accusations of colorism, although the casts have been made up of Black actors and actresses from all across the color spectrum.
Both shows are based on his family dynamic, but the characters on the new Netflix series aren’t exact replicas of their real-life counterparts.
“I think black-ish was based more of my kids’ mom than this,” Barris, who is now in the process of a divorce from his wife of 20 years. “I wanted [the wife on this show] to be more of a radicalized character.”
Rashida Jones co-stars as Barris’ wife, Joya, and she is indeed radical, something that’s sure to cause some backlash for the biracial actress.
It’s already caused some confusion as Jones was trending on Twitter on Friday night because some were unaware that the former Parks and Recreation star was biracial in real life.
Ya’ll are on the internet saying Rashida Jones was on TV ‘passing as white’……
A woman named Rashida. Jones.
Now I know she had a white ass name on Parks, but they never said she wasn’t black…. ya’ll did.
A quick google would tell you who her LEGENDARY ASS father is… pic.twitter.com/61wH6W9bmu
— Quintin Quarantino (@DCisChillin) April 17, 2020
“She had done black-ish and she was a fan of the show and she’s also really really smart. She’s a historian and she understands the need for these conversations. She really went on the journey with me and went full force,” Barris says of Jones.
Jones, whose parents are the late actress Peggy Lipton and Quincy Jones, hasn’t done that many roles that portray her as a Black woman. Because of that, Barris says Jones is well aware that lots of people don’t identify her as one.
“She was like, ‘People haven’t seen me play this. I’m not looked at like a Black woman in that aspect. That’s ridiculous. My dad is Quincy Jones. It’s important for people to understand that I understand how I’m perceived but at the same time I know who I am.’ Barris says.
READ MORE: Kidada and Rashida Jones lose mother Peggy Lipton over Mother’s Day weekend
Barris knows we’ll be comparing this show to his Emmy-winning ABC series, and he’s aware that it often comes off like he was going for a rendition of black-ish after dark.
“I feel like the first time I put pen to paper in a really scary deal where I was at a place I was comfortable with, I really wanted to do something I knew. I also wanted to do something that spoke to the people I wanted to speak to,” he says.
“When you’re dealing with networks, you have to make sure you’re casting a much wider spectrum. This was small niche. I wanted to talk to us, to my mom and to speak to my tribe. What ended up happening is that it became something I hope speaks for a lot of different people, but it is ultimately a really honest homage to my family.”
If you’re wondering what prompted Kenya Barris to play himself in the series, a la Curb Your Enthusiasm, we’ve got the answer.
“I spoke to Larry David about it and he pushed for me to do it. He’s the GOAT to me in terms of comedy writing. One of the biggest things for me was that there already was a show on about my family with an actor playing it. If we were gonna do this it had to be something different.”
“I was the weak link in this. It was terrifying,” he admits. “I know I’m not an actor and I don’t want to be. You face your fears and that’s what I tell my kids. ‘Find something you’re afraid of and try it.’”
#blackAF is streaming now on Netflix.
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