Insightful Social Commentary by Black Characters Before Their Lines Were Edited for TV

Black Anti-Hero Character

Full Line:
“Sometimes you gotta be your own role model since we’re grossly underrepresented in the media.”

Edited:
“Sometimes you gotta be your own role model!”

Sassy Black Friend Character

Full Line:
“Girl, e’rybody knows how to dance around conversations about race and stereotypes. For example, a common stereotype is that Black people love watermelon, but according to a 2008 study by the USDA Black people are actually underrepresented as watermelon eaters since we make up 13% of the population but only 11% of watermelon consumers.”

Edited:
“Girl, e’rybody knows how to dance!”

Street Savvy Black Friend Character

Full Line:
“I used to spend hours on the basketball court. Growing up, it seemed like my only options were to sell drugs or play sports because those were the only roles I saw black people in on TV.”

Edited:
“I used to spend hours on the basketball court growing up!”

Black Guy in Army Squad Character

Full Line:
“Sometimes it takes a little more than hard work and dedication to get a job — according to data from the Economic Policy Institute, the unemployment rate of Black Americans with a bachelor’s degree or higher is almost double that of White Americans with the same qualifications. The same study shows that Blacks at each level of education have unemployment rates that are higher than less educated Whites.”

Edited:
“Sometimes it takes a little more than hard work and dedication to get the job done.”

Character Played by Special Guest Star Who’s Way Too Good
of an Actor to Be in This One-Off Sitcom Role

Full Line:
“I’m aware of the effect I have on women. I am often fetishized as a mandingo or a lust crazed sexual deviant. Lena Dunham’s comments on Odell Beckham Jr. and Michael B. Jordan are a small glimpse of the larger mindset.”

Edited:
“I’m aware of the effect I have on women.”

Comic Relief Black Friend Character,
Comedy Coming From Convoluted Verbiage

Full Line:
“There’s no shame in admitting that you’re wrong, even when you’re right, so like stop resisting even harder I guess? Ooh, remember the video of Eric Garner? Maybe if he had went limp and passed out instead of pleading ‘I can’t breathe’ eleven times as an officer suffocated him, perhaps he would have lived?”

Edited:
“There’s no shame in admitting that you’re wrong, even when you’re right!”

Black Tour Guide Character (Assumed Off-screen Death)

Full Line:
“It’s a dangerous world out there — the police are systematically killing us, as of April there have been 83 Black Americans shot and killed by police in 2017. That’s about 20 per month.”

Edited:
“It’s a dangerous world out there.”

Minor Character Played by White Child Recast as Black Child
Then Back Again After Internet Backlash

Full Line:
“The ‘race card’ is a dismissal created by White people in order to make minorities feel bad about calling out imbalances spawned by racial inequalities.”

Edited:
“Oh Snap!”