Racism 101: Are you a Racist?

Louis CK was on The Jimmy Kimmel Show last night. I am a big fan of Louis CK personally but that isn’t why I am writing this now. On last night’s Kimmel show, Jimmy mentioned that he’d gotten to see a few of the episodes from this season’s Louie show. He talked about how different reoccurring characters have actually been played by multiple actors/actresses. This lead to the point Jimmy was getting to.

In this season of Louie, his ex-wife is played by a Black woman. They talk about how the children on the show are obviously white. (Which honestly made me roll my eyes) When asked about the change, Louis said “She was good enough to play the person and I didn’t care.”(Starts at the 25:53 mark) Then, he stated that “If a character works for the show then I don’t care about the racial (background)”

Don’t misunderstand this and think that I believe Louis CK to be totally non-problematic. He definitely has faults. Plus, I have a strong suspicion that the woman playing his ex-wife will have at least a little of the “Sapphire Syndrome.” Which is not okay.

With all that said, I can’t help but be excited to see them play opposite each other. I can’t help but to be happy that someone who was in charge of hiring cast members didn’t have a “white only” policy. (THAT IS EXTREMELY RARE) I also can’t help but to be excited about the fact that he is talking about this on national television. 

I’m sure (and saddened) that there will be people who make comments about how his children are white so their Mother couldn’t possibly be Black. Ignoring the millions of possibilities in the way DNA actually works. There will also be people who make comments about how this is not reflective of his “Real life” situation. To them I say, it’s only a TV show! Isn’t that what you say when a character of color is replaced with a white character? 

I was already excited about the new season because I am a Louis CK fan. Hearing him say that he doesn’t care as long as the person can do the job, makes me even more excited!

First show of the season comes on tonight on the FX Network!