For years, fans of the hit ABC sitcom Black-ish have wondered exactly what led creator Kenya Barris to walk away from his critically acclaimed series at the height of its success. In a recent interview on The Breakfast Club, Barris finally set the record straight, revealing that his departure ultimately came down to one major factor: Donald Trump.
Barris explained that a highly anticipated, politically charged episode of the show was shelved because network executives were terrified of angering the then-president during a pivotal business move.
According to Barris, the friction began when Disney was in the middle of its monumental acquisition of 21st Century Fox. Because a corporate merger of that magnitude required presidential approval, executives were on edge about doing anything that might upset Trump.
Barris had just finished an episode that heavily discussed the president, and although it had gone through all the standard network checks and approvals, higher-ups at the company pulled the plug.
“They were afraid that he was petty enough to not let the merger go through if we aired it,” Barris explained.
For the showrunner, pulling a fully approved episode felt like blatant censorship and a disservice to the show’s dedicated audience. “I was like, ‘I can’t be here anymore,'” he said.
The episode in question centered on Colin Kaepernick and the conversation about athletes kneeling during the national anthem. Barris shared that the episode was produced well before the 2020 protests following the murder of George Floyd, and it aimed to explore the deep societal divides and the “celestial irony” of kneeling as a form of protest.
When the network decided the episode was too risky for their corporate interests, Barris realized his creative vision was being compromised. “I didn’t feel right being there if I couldn’t tell the story the way that I thought we should be telling it,” he shared.
Barris also recalled the strange atmosphere at the time, saying that Trump had previously tweeted about his disdain for the show’s title. “Could you imagine if they had a show called ‘White-ish’?” Trump had posted. Barris joked on the radio show about his internal response: “I’m over back there, it’s called Friends.”
Barris even mentioned getting audited around that same time, adding to the tension of the era.
Walking away from a massive network hit is never an easy decision. Barris admitted that when he made the call to quit, he was genuinely terrified that he was ruining his livelihood.
“I remember coming home, my kids were like, ‘Are you okay?'” Barris confessed. “I’m blowing my career… I didn’t have a job. I didn’t know I had a job when I said I quit.”
Fortunately, Disney CEO Bob Iger, who Barris praised heavily during the interview, calling him “the best CEO ever”, supported his decision and allowed him out of his overall deal.
This move paved the way for Barris to sign a massive, multi-year deal with Netflix, where he felt he would have the creative freedom to tell the stories he wanted without political interference.
Ultimately, the gamble paid off. Barris continued to build his empire at Netflix, while Black-ish continued its successful run on ABC.
