I think many comedians have made their careers by using stereotypes as comical humor. Especially many black comedians that I know always have a part of that in their performance. Off the top of my head, I can think of Monique, Lil Duval, Mike Epps, and Kevin Hart.
Yet, when I think of how stereotypes making people famous, I think of the show called The Boondocks. It is a show on BET that exploits the many black stereotypes through a means of humor, but the aim is not just comedy, the aim is to also show the ridiculousness of such stereotypes. If taken correctly, a viewer will laugh and enjoy themselves while also realizing, the ways in which the characters of the cartoon live and behave are not the ideal ways to represent oneself in reality.
In the clip below, we have Tom, a lawyer often thought of as a "white-black guy" because of the way he talks and acts. His soul was taken over by the soul of Stinkmeaner, a deceased elderly man, whose ignorance and "nigger-ish acts" characterized him. To get revenge upon Riley and Huey's grandpa, Stinkmeaners soul acts as a parasite to Tom's soul and only reveals itself in "nigger-moments". Also, beware of profanity.
As you can see, the clip is hilarious, but the stereotypes that come out are a black mans anger, language, temper, and violence. If people were to take this as humor and nothing realistic, they would enjoy it but not imitate it. If people were to take it as a true stereotypical show, then they would laugh and imitate it expecting everyone to find it funny, no matter what race they are. That's not true though, if a white person was to reenact this scene to a black person, it wouldn't be so pretty. See the thing is, many people do imitate and repeat the things that they see on TV. And if a mature audience isn't the only audience viewing these shows, then these things will be taken incorrectly; to me, this is how ignorance spreads. Even though we show whatever we show on television, its the families jobs at home to make sure their children and relatives are raised right so as not to be prejudiced or purely stereotypical in everything they do.
Jasmine Kent
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