‘N’ AS IN NO!
Racial slur on NBC’s ‘Carmichael’ goes too far
We just can’t get on board with a network TV comedy dropping the Nword in prime time. When it comes to slurs aimed at people for ethnic or religious grounds, none is uglier, given its direct relationship to the abomination of slavery.
So it’s a little unnerving that NBC’s “The Carmichael Show” has planned an episode that features the unedited word “around six times,” according to its creator and star Jerrod Carmichael (photo).
The episode, the show’s season 3 premiere, will air at 9 p.m. on May 31 — with a parental advisory appearing before it.
Previous episodes of “The Carmichael Show” have taken on police brutality, the Black Lives Matter movement, rape and even the Bill Cosby scandal. Each of these topics was handled with tact and humor, so there’s really no question that “The Carmichael Show” will deal with the word in context and with thought.
Frankly, if this episode were airing on HBO or Netflix, no one would likely care very much.
But this is NBC, and that makes it different because these are “public” airwaves accessible to a far, far larger audience — even if everyone is not tuning in. Given this, the whole N-word episode could be construed more as a stunt — a way to get people to see and hear something shocking on a show with mediocre ratings — simply because of the time and place that it will air. A cornerstone of the late great comedian George Carlin’s act was how powerful language can be in people’s mouths. He specifically singled out this word many times, noting “It’s the racist a-----e who’s using it you ought to be concerned about.”
Make no mistake, “The Carmichael Show” is a decent comedy that aims, like the classic “All in the Family,” to get people thinking and sometimes make them a little uncomfortable. We know there are many who argue that the N-word has been reclaimed by the black community and is even a term of fellowship among American hip-hop culture. Guess what? It’s still offensive. In any place, in any context, the N-word remains the most racist, upsetting slur there is. Just because people of all stripes (with good and bad intentions) say it out loud all the time doesn’t make it less offensive.
We’re hoping Carmichael will make a similar point.