Donald Glover, the multitalented actor, writer, comedian and musician, has hired an all-Black writing staff for his upcoming show “Atlanta,” saying "I wanted to show white people, you don't know everything about Black culture."
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Indeed Glover said that ignorance surfaced when he first pitched the show to executives at FX. As he told Vulture, FX first suggested that the Black character in the show who plays a drug dealer live in a “traplike” drug den or flophouse.
"We were like, 'No, he's a drug dealer, he makes enough money to live in a regular apartment,'" Glover said to Vulture. "There were some things so subtle and Black that people had no idea what we were talking about."
The star’s goals with “Atlanta” are also to reflect criticisms he’s received over the years about his access to and popularity in white cultural spaces.
"I know when I go to Baltimore, when I go to D.C., it's like 50-50—half of them are like, 'I love this dude, this dude's cool.' And the other half are like, 'This coon-ass dude,'" he said. "But I have no hate in my heart for no Black person ever. Because we're in a position where the system has fucked us up so bad we can't always trust each other."
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As Inverse reported, he’s also wary of Hollywood capitalizing on the concept of "diversity," while tokenizing people of color or other marginalized communities.
“I feel like it’s up to us,” Glover has said. “I know a lot of Black writers and producers and directors and stuff like that who are learning that if you make something cool for no money, people pay attention to it. It’s up to us to congregate and make things important. I’m not out here trying to be like, ‘Let’s make diverse (content),’ because the worst thing in the world to me is like, ‘That’s really good for an indie movie’ or ‘That’s really good for a Black show’ or ‘That’s really good for a gay show.’”
"Atlanta" debuts September 9, with Glover in the role of the character "Earnest 'Earn' Marks," who attempts to balance life between his origins and a life often spent in mostly white settings.