by Theron K. Cal
Los Angeles, CA–The Times as well as The Grio website are reporting that Boondocks creator Aaron Mcgruder is out of the reboot of televisions most inciteful program since Fox TV’s In Living Color.
From 1999-2010 America got a peek into the world of Huey Freeman, his family and friends who ran the gamut from pro-black militant to 100% Sellout and all points in-between.
Reggie Hudlin
When House Party Writer/Director Reginald Hudlin announced BET was developing the Boondocks as the networks first original animated series hopes were high yet, after that first season, the Nations only African-American themed Network realized the series was too realistic, too cutting edge and not long for an outlet better suited to expressing black culture rather than offering commentary on it.
It was McGruder who insisted that the integrity of the show was in its realism and that meant the liberal and wonton use of the N-word. It was N-word this and N-word that and N-word please, which quickly spelled doom for the series at BET.
While McGruder was the driving force behind the series– which he began writing as a strip in his dorm room at the University of Maryland–he wasn’t the only one.
There was Hudlin, also on the team was Friday scribe, street consultant, and major contributor for the wildly successful Grand Theft Auto console game franchise(another endeavor with its share of controversy and not just over the N-word), DJ Pooh.
DJPooh
Pooh by all accounts is still a part of the series and has a Kickstarter project for an Uncle Ruckus feature film with some of the funniest You Tube clips on the web.
If one were to guess, McGruder would not budge on the deletion of the N-word while Pooh and Hudlin would rather see the series legacy reside in the topics and issues raised, as opposed to a debate that will far outlast one show.
Ironically, as most fans of the show will tell you they’ve heard enough N-words to last a lifetime and wouldn’t miss that part of the narrative if it were to go the way of the black power salute. Many on social media are openly wondering whether or not the series without its creator will remain authentic.
If anything the pressure to uphold the standards that even McGruder himself didn’t meet–the newspaper strip was prohibited from using the N-word due to community standards–will make the final season of the Boondocks better than ever, but that’s just a guess.
The fourth and final season of The Boondocks airs on Adult Swim on April 21.
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