The Story Behind Black-ish’s Provocative N-Word Episode

Since that show’s success, which returns for its second season premiere Wednesday (Sept. 23) at 9:30, Barris has seen his opportunities expand significantly.

“Why didn’t anybody tell me how amusing #Blackish is?!?” tweeted @Michaelinho. Being “Black-ish” only makes you popular so long, trust me.

Britni Danielle (@BritniDWrites) tweeted, “What show, beside #Blackish, is debating the n-word in such a smart way?”

She is referring to her brother Jack’s (Miles Brown) school talent show rendition of Kanye West’s “Gold Digger”, where he dances and raps the infamous N word in front of the entire school and subsequently gets himself expelled. He approaches the mic and starts rapping, “Now I ain’t sayin’ she a gold digger/ But she ain’t messin’ with no broke nigga” and repeats the line for effect.

The installment had its detractors. Yet, his wife and parents disagree. “For me, it’s like my tribal call. The draft is in and I’m really, really proud of it”. Is it simply an ugly, hate-filled word that no one – not even black people – should ever use? The point, a sensible one, is not to expect this debate to be settled but to just keep talking because, as Dre says, “This whole country has been schizophrenic about what to call black people for two centuries”. Rainbow doesn’t think anyone should say the word. It’s a kid saying a word.

“People always ask me if these various explorations of the N-word will result in its eventually losing its venom and becoming another word”, says Asim, an associate professor of writing, literature and publishing at Emerson College in Boston. “But it’s never said casually, and never in mixed company”.

Hawk, who plays Maggie on the series, noted that there will indeed be many twists and turns this season.

You do not have to say African-American. And vice versa. Dre grows more and more confused, especially after talking to the school’s strict black principal.

One of the episodes of Black-ish I reviewed last season was “Black Santa/White Christmas,” the episode that dropped the “black people can’t be racist” bomb. (Pryor eventually swore off the word after a visit to Africa.) Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino dropped the N-word about 140 times in his slave western “Django Unchained” in 2012 and went on to win an Oscar for his screenplay, despite criticism from director Spike Lee and others.

When I heard the show was taking on the n-word, I assumed the worst.

Show creator/executive producer Kenya Barris told ET that he was concerned about how the episode would be received, but Anderson was worry-free when we spoke to him. I used to look at Friends and Seinfeld and wonder, ‘What part of New York is that?

Barris later pitched ABC on the idea of an episode built around the N-word.

“They’ve been totally supportive”, says Barris.

“We were going to fight to have it said once or twice, but hearing it felt like a barrier to entry” for viewers, he said, with the bleep enough to evoke its power. The show’s premise places an observant lens on public perception and the looming stereotypes that often plague the black experience, while seamlessly rolling out a hilarious combination of inside jokes multiple generations of African Americans can connect with.

Then again, there’s also the argument that it’s just too hateful, too bad to use, and that it can denote self-hatred – both personalized self-hatred and hate within the black community.