Cartoon courts controversy
Oh, there are actually plenty of reasons the newest entry in the Cartoon Network's "Late Night Swim" lineup will kick up some dust. The show, which premieres Sunday at midnight, is based on the controversial strip about Robert "Granddad" Freeman, who takes custody of his two grandsons and moves to the "Boondocks." Huey, 10, is a "left-wing revolutionary"; Riley, 8, is a "product of contemporary rap culture."
"Boondocks" creator/cartoonist Aaron McGruder promises the TV show "is not about the news the way the strip is" — an impossibility with TV animation production schedules — but that it will be "really funny and inappropriate."
How inappropriate? Well, that depends, among other things, on whether you find the use of the N-word — the racial epithet — appropriate.
"I've used it extensively in the strip," McGruder said. "I try to use it more and more. It's tough in newspapers. They're not really thrilled about it, but I keep trying to push it."
And there are no reluctant editors at the Cartoon Network.
Which is not a view that's popular with all African-Americans. The Rev. Al Sharpton, who has a show called "Cuttin' Up" on TV One (a cable network marketed to African-Americans), said, "I think we have to be very careful how we sanitize a word that has been racist and derogatory. At one level, there are those who say it is endearing. But when you empower people that are not using it in that way, I think that it comes back to haunt you."
TV One commentator Roland S. Martin said, "There is no context" in which the N-word is acceptable.
"Because if it was used to mutilate the body of Emmitt Till, then I don't think it should be used in music," Martin said. "If it was used to denigrate James Meredith and Martin Luther King Jr., it should not be used. So, therefore, I refuse to justify it."
McGruder isn't apologetic. "It is what it is, but at the same time, I understand that the word offends a lot of people. Look, that's what late-night cable is for, I guess."
Of course, Cartoon Network's own data indicates there are a lot of young males in their teens watching the Adult Swim lineup. ("Boondocks" airs at 11 p.m. on the East and West coasts; local viewers with satellite systems will see it at 9 p.m.)
But to McGruder's way of thinking, he's in step with the mainstream on this. "I think 15, 16 years after the advent of gangster rap, young white kids have heard (the N-word) before. And they've said it, maybe, a few times. I'm not sure. So if they start saying it all of a sudden (after 'Boondocks' debuts), I refuse to take responsibility."
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com
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