Kenya Barris Responds to Criticism of ‘Perpetuating Colorism’ in His Work: ‘I Challenge Anybody Who’s Had A Blacker Body Of Work Than Me’

Kenya Barris, the director of You People, acknowledges the constant criticism of his work and stands ten toes down when it comes to his artistic decisions!

Kenya was recently interviewed by Rolling Stone and was asked about the internet hype around him and his work. For perspective, Kenya suffers a good bit of blowback over his so-called “biracial obsession,” as The Shade Room has documented.

Barris stated that his efforts are on par with “anybody who’s had a Blacker body of work” in reaction to being “criticised by audiences for perpetuating colorism.”

“I think that people need to have something to say. I think that the bigger thing is: if you look at my body of work, I challenge anybody who’s had a Blacker body of work than me.”

He also mentioned that his personal familial experiences influence how he conceptualises shows such as Black-ish and Grown-ish. As a result, his work may be “based upon exactly that biraciality.”

“Black-ish, was based on literally my family. My wife is biracial. My kids look like the kids on Black-ish. And I was trying to make a story about my family. #BlackAF, again, was based upon my family so what I was doing was based upon the experience that I knew and the things that came along with that. Mixed-ish is based upon exactly that biraciality.”

 “I think most of the people who’ve studied the American landscape will say that some sort of mixed-race look will be in in the next 30-40 years.” Barris continued.

He Wants To Demonstrate That The Black Community Is ‘Not Monolithic’

Another point Kenya made was that his successes have “opened up a lot of doors for a lot of people to tell their own versions of stories.” After all, “the only color in Hollywood that really matters is green.”

“Most of the things I’ve done have been commercially successful in a way that, unfortunately, you know, our projects haven’t been able to be. And I think it’s opened up a lot of doors for a lot of other people to tell their versions of stories.”

Having said that, Kenya did mention that he enjoys some of the jokes about him and his work. Furthermore, he stated that, at the end of the day, he is devoted to “promot[ing] Black culture in all form.”

“I feel like I’ve heard the some of my favorite jokes, you know: you say biracial in the mirror three times, Kenya Barris appears. Drake’s baby looks like Kenya Barris produced it. Like, I get it. I get the jokes. But I also feel like if you look at my body of work, everything I’ve done has been to try and promote Black culture in every form and to show that we’re not monolithic and there’s so many versions of us.”

Regarding the typical criticism levelled against Kenya Barris, he said that the Black community seemed to “pick and choose” whether to focus on someone’s multiracial identification. As an example, he cited an internet discussion involving #BlackAF actress Rashida Jones and Barack Obama.

“Someone said, ‘Rashida Jones isn’t a real Black woman.’ And someone on Twitter then said, ‘Rashida Jones is exactly like Barack Obama and he’s our king.’ And I feel like that was a really interesting thing to look at.”

Barris continued, taking his argument back to the Civil Rights Movement.

“I feel like we pick and choose when to say, this is what it is and this is what’s not. If you look at some of the biggest figures in the Civil Rights Movement they were biracial, and at that moment we weren’t looking at how someone was lighter or this or that. We just needed numbers and we needed us all to come together.”

Main Image: Kenya Barris/ AWOL ERIZKU

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