‘Blackish’ Fans Slam ABC For Casting Chris Brown As A Guest Star
Troubled singer Chris Brown made an appearance as a guest star on Wednesday’s episode of the ABC sitcom Blackish. During the episode, Brown played the role of a rapper who was brought in to work with Dre (played by Anthony Anderson) and his advertising firm on a campaign.
Exclusive: @ChrisBrown to guest star on @black_ishABC: https://t.co/2q7aaXlN7g #blackish pic.twitter.com/toKBRINfjb
— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) March 22, 2017
According to The Washington Post, many fans of the ABC sitcom Blackish were extremely disappointed by the decision to cast Chris Brown as a guest star. Now in Season 3, Blackish has had a fair share of celebrities who have appeared as a guest star including Tyra Banks and Daveed Diggs. Rashida Jones is also slated to make an appearance as a guest star in an episode next month. While other celebrity guest stars in Blackish have been well-received by the fans, they were not thrilled with ABC’s decision to cast Chris Brown.
The Washington Post speculates it is Brown’s frequently run-ins with the law that caused him to be an unexpected and unappreciated choice in guest star.
Back in 2009, Chris Brown ended up pleading guilty to a felony charge for assaulting Rihanna – who was his girlfriend at the time. In August of last year, Chris Brown was arrested after a standoff with police that lasted for hours. The whole incident started when a woman called 911 from outside of Chris Brown’s home and told the police the troubled singer had threatened her with a gun.
Chris Brown managed to make his way back into the headlines recently when reports started to surface that Brown’s ex-girlfriend, model Karrueche Tran, had obtained a restraining order against him. Earlier this month Billboard featured and article claiming Chris Brown’s downward spiral could be connected back to anger issues and drug addiction. Brown later refuted the claims made in the article on social media.
Considering his troubled history and frequent issues with the law, fans of Blackish didn’t see Chris Brown as a good fit for the show. Blackish is a sitcom known for its thoughtful commentary – according to The Washington Post – and Brown didn’t really contribute to that.
Naturally, fans of the ABC sitcom were not shy about sharing their opinions regarding the decision to cast Chris Brown as a guest star on Blackish. There were some who vowed not to watch the episode. There were others who encouraged the sitcom to use casting Chris Brown as a guest star as an opportunity to address domestic violence related issues.
Nope. I usually watch with my family but not tomorrow.
— Mignon (@miggypeace) March 28, 2017
Some even pointed out that unless the episode was about domestic violence, anyone other than Chris Brown would have been a better fit as the guest star. There were even some Blackish fans who slammed ABC claiming that casting Brown for the role was an insult to women.
@ABCPublicity Such a cynical move to feature Chris Brown on Blackish. Its an insult to the women on the show & sends bad message to viewers.
— Sarah Swift (@lakeswift) March 29, 2017
I love #Blackish but if this episode isn't about domestic violence, they could literally hire anyone else to play this role. https://t.co/jaSkaLT2fC
— KAM. (@mskambam) March 23, 2017
The Washington Post notes that Chris Brown had slightly more than five minutes of total screen time as a guest star for Blackish and he was not featured in any of the images shared by the official social media accounts of Blackish.
ABC made the decision not to comment on Chris Brown making an appearance as a guest star prior to the episode airing on Wednesday. Anthony Anderson – who is also an executive producer for the show – did explain how Brown landed the guest star role during an interview. According to Anderson, Chris Brown approached Kenya Barris (the creator of Blackish) at a restaurant in order to tell him that he loved the show and would love the opportunity to guest star.
Anderson thought fans would be pleasantly surprised with the show when it aired.
Are you a fan of Blackish? Were you unhappy with the decision to cast Chris Brown as a guest star? Share your thoughts with us in the comment’s section found down below.
[Featured Image by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images]
