‘Atlanta’ Creator Donald Glover Pushes Back Against Criticism that Show is Not for Black People
During a panel at the Television Critics Association on Tuesday, Atlanta creator Donald Glover and his brother Stephen Glover pushed back against accusations that the hit show is “only for white people.”
He added, “I feel like a lot of the Black criticism bothers me only because it sounds like [it's from] Black people who don't really know what we've been through. I don't think they give a lot of credit to what we've gone through."
Of the criticism, Glover adds that the commentary is not as “elevated as it should be.”
"There are better ways to talk about it rather than like with shit I've heard in fourth grade about who we are because I feel this is such a Black show," he said. "To say it's only for white people, it's like we're cutting ourselves down which is kind of whack to me ... "
His brother Stephen—who is a writer on the show, agreed, saying, “when people say the show isn't for Black people because I think it very much is for Black people," but he takes those critiques with a grain of salt.
"But I will also say being in Atlanta and walking around, or even like in L.A., I run into Black people all the time who tell me this is their favorite show and how they appreciate everything we do," he explained. "They also say we're making them want to do cooler and weirder stuff ... So for me, that's the real kind of conversations that are happening out there. Internet stuff isn't always real; it's not how people really feel. I kind of get my feelings from the streets, to sum that up."
The show follows Glover’s character Earn and his cousin, rapper Paper Boi played by Brian Tyree Henry along with LaKeith Stanfield as weird sidekick Darius and Zazie Beetz as Earn’s ex-girlfriend Van. The final season of the critically acclaimed show premieres on FX on Sept. 15.