August 22, 2015, Queens, NY “F#$K Mandela!” exclaims the lead character, Cam Calloway, on Starz network’s second season of “Survivor’s Remorse.” The critically acclaimed comedy produced by Lebron James and Maverick Carter, and written by Mike O’Malley is another installment of newly rich athletes (primarily African American) behaving badly and being leeched upon and enabled by family and friends (see “Ballers”).
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In 2015 a character says, “F#$K Mandela.” In 1984 a group releases a song, “Free Nelson Mandela.” That’s going backwards, or to put it another way: Regression. Unforgivable. Demeaning. Damning. And Deliberate. In an age of #BlackLivesMatter what is the message here?
(See youtube video by The Specials https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgcTvoWjZJU)
Comedy doesn’t mean that anything goes all in the name of fun. 9-11, not funny. The Holocaust, not funny. The Middle Passage, not funny–even though the aforementioned have been parodied at some point in time. Still, not funny. In fact, Never Funny.
The writer and show’s creator, Mike O’Malley, clearly lacks the requisite sensitivity to deal with the issue of a young Black man who becomes an NBA star and has to deal with the would-be trappings that come with stardom. Just because O’Malley has lines like, “White people smell when they’re wet,” and “It’s Nat Turner time,” he is overreaching and over his head. The episode has the spoiled, hypersensitive, pseudo pro-Black baller upset because he has to attend an event honoring Nelson Mandela. And this African-attired “White Owner” goes to his “Black Player’s” mansion to school him about Mandela’s historical significance, manhood, “employee” obligation, and other things that this lost-and-confused, no-daddy-havin’, had-to-be-a-rapper-or-baller-otherwise-he’d-be-dead-or-in-jail, overgrown-adolescent needs to know about LIFE (with or without parole).
There’s a scene where three of the female leads are in the beauty salon. The topic of “hair” comes up and is laced with some of the most backward coonery masked as dialogue about the social, historical and contemporary, as well as the aesthetic context of “sistas going naturale.” Here’s a sample of the dialogue: “They go from looking like a woman to looking like a man,” “I mean, it’s the 21st century, F$#K the afro. Every B#$%H that cuts her hair thinks she’s going to look like Lupita,” “Most of them end up looking like Lawrence Fishburne with tits,” and “Shanika transitioned; she doesn’t look like Lawrence Fishburne.” These are the high points of the conversation. The only thing O’Malley missed was a disparaging comment about Serena Williams’ appearance.
I’ll bet anything that NBA Commissioner, Adam Silver, isn’t pleased.
If “Ballers” starring The Rock (aka Dwayne Johnson) is cementing in the minds of many that Black football players are irresponsible, self-centered, materialistic, under educated (and “under intelligent”), greedy, and uber-sexual miscreants, then “Survivor’s Remorse” is “Ballers 2.0.” If Lebron James is going to “transition” from athlete to film/television producer, he should do so by developing and/or backing content that doesn’t continue to perpetuate stereotypes that give rise to notions of African-American “sub-inferiority.” And, if we (all people) don’t want to be insulted by such ridiculous adaptations that “caricaturize” a particular group, we should rethink our support for such shows like “Survivor’s Remorse.”
F#$K Mandela? Are you kidding me? No, FREE Mandela. Free him from ridicule from those above ground even though his body lies underground. Free him from stupidity and vile racism disguised as comedy. Free him from actors who will say anything. Free him from viewers who don’t have enough inner humanity to realize that he shouldn’t be caricatured. And Free him from studios and writers who only want to destroy his legacy. FREE Nelson Mandela.
Viewer’s Remorse.
Professor Clifford Benton can be reached at: @CliffordBenton.