I hope this doesn't come off condescending because I was also a huge BoM fan (see my username!) but a lot of Black performers + people from Uganda/east Africa have been talking about how racist it is, how much they hated auditioning for it, etc. after Griffin Matthews posted his 'Broadway is Racist' video.
Damn, that's a bummer. I always thought of it as a commentary on how dumbass white people see people from Africa and the black characters in the show making fun of that, proving our whiteness and white-populated religions are what's actually ridiculous. :[
Yeah, I definitely 'read' it that way as well. But the more I think about it and hear from Black people, and given the fact that it's written by all white men for an almost all-white audience ... it's harder to see it as a real callout of American/white views of Africa. If it were it probably wouldn't be so easy for us to laugh at? And I do think it's paying lip service to the idea that that presentation of Africa is absurd, but in reality the laughs are at the stereotype playing out, not at people who believe the stereotype — if that makes sense.
It absolutely makes sense and even if it didn’t to me, I’m white - if black people are saying it’s offensive then it is. Tbh Trey Parker and Matt Stone are and always have been problematic af anyway soooo. I get what you’re saying.
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