As Issa Rae’s star continues to shine, the Insecure creator opened up to MIC Magazine about the days where a white female colleague told her to include white characters to appeal to a broader (insert White people) audience.
The 36-year-old entertainment mogul revealed the revelation explaining why her first show Awkward Black Girl featured a white love interest named White Jay in 2011. And Insecure featured a white girl named Freida in the early seasons.
“She was just like, ‘Girl, if you want this shit to set off to the next level, you got to put a white character in there, then white people will care about it, then NPR is going to write about your shit, and it’ll blow up. And then it literally happened.”
Issa reflected on the impact of her colleague’s words, telling MIC, “From the jump in creating the show, it was put in my mind that you had to have a White character to be a bridge, and for people to care, for it to get awards, for it to be considered worthy of the television canon.”
The brilliant creator told the publication that she kept that same energy when creating her critically-acclaimed HBO series Insecure in 2016.
Not wanting to center whiteness in her series, Issa “actively” phased Freida out after the character was terminated from her job on the show and intentionally didn’t cast her in a recurring role.
“I was like, F**k no! This is not a show about Freida!” Rae recalled. “I realized, ‘Oh my gosh, our show is just about Black characters now in the most refreshing way.'”
“I hope that not having to think of an audience that isn’t us — and being okay with that — is passed on. I want people to know we are enough.”
The hit series, which airs its final season on October 24, earned 11 Emmy nominations, three NAACP Image Awards and one Emmy.
Issa secured a five-year contract with Warner Media to create television shows and movies.
“I’m thrilled to not only spread my creative wings with the network that makes all of my favorite series,” Rae said in a statement at the time.
