Racism in It’s Always Sunny?

In the 2005 episode of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”, the characters, especially Mac, act racist and homophobic throughout the episode. The episode depicts black people to be violent, loud, and short tempered, and gay people to be as stereotypical as possible. I will be talking about the stereotypes and bigotry portrayed by these characters, and how it portrays homosexuals and African Americans.

The episode starts off with the gang (Dennis, Dee, Mac, and Charlie) sitting at the bar, counting how much money they’ve made from that night. Dee tells the gang about this guy she met in her acting class. Soon after that, a black man walks into the bar. Dennis tell him that they’re closed, but the man keeps walking in. Everyone jumps up, and mac says, “Hey, we want no trouble.”. It turns out that this is Tyrell, the guy Dee was talking about earlier. The whole situation is awkward, and then Mac says, “we just…didn’t expect you to be black, that’s all…”. Mac is the character who, whether purposeful or not, comes off as racist as well as homophobic. The conversation continues, and shows that Tyrell has connections, and could potentially get their bar whole lot of customers. Later, the guys go out to the coffee shop to discuss. Dennis says there’s something strange or off about Tyrell. That’s because, unbeknownst to everyone, Tyrell is gay. It’s noticeable if you look for it, he can be seen avoiding hugging Dee, but will full out embrace Dennis in his arms. While discussing, Charlie. quotes Tyrell, whose quote had the n-word in it. He didn’t realize that the waitress, who he has a crush on, was right behind him. Great, he thinks, now she thinks I’m racist. After this encounter, Mac and Charlie decide it’s a good idea to go to the local college campus to meet some new friends “outside their race”. Inside, they see all the stereotypical loud, black, crowd playing a game of dominoes. Charlie shows them his skill, and gets a black girl’s number. Mac is frustrated and says, “why do these people like you more than me?” And “I…I mean those people in there, not all black people…” After this, Charlie takes his new girl on a date..to the same coffee shop to prove to the waitress that he’s not racist. After his date finds out, she punches him right in the eye. Meanwhile, the bar is packed…full of men. The gang doesn’t know it yet, but Tyrell brought a bunch of gay guys to the bar to make it the hottest gay bar in Philly. Mac and Dee don’t like this, but Dennis and Charlie see all the money they’re making. Dennis even acts more gay around the customers to get some extra tips. Dee confronts Tyrell and wonders why he kept a his sexuality a secret. He says, “I’m a theater actor in Philadelphia, I didn’t think it was that big of a secret.” Turns out the girl that punched Charlie in the face was Tyrell’s sister. Tyrell finds this out and is mad. Then Mac chimes in and says, “Oh so you say you’re not related, then it turns out you people actually are all related!….This doesn’t hold over well, and Tyrell storms out of the bar with his sister.

The whole episode, the gang is bigoted, even though they want to believe they aren’t. Mac insists he’s not racist, even though he says some pretty dodgy things. The worst way is when he refers to people different than him (homosexuals, black people) as “those people” as if they’re all the same and think as one. Another bad way that black people are poorly represented in the show is when Tyrell first comes in. At first they say that they’re closed, but when Tyrell says he know and continues to walk in, everyone jumps up in fear saying they don’t want trouble. Unfortunately, if Tyrell was any other race, they would not have jumped in fear. Black people are also depicted as violent and loud. They get to the college campus, and all the black people are yelling and getting all excited. And when Janelle (Tyrell’s sister) punches Charlie in the eye, it sends the message that they’re violent and short tempered. I can almost guarantee that if the character Janelle was white, she would not have lashed out violently.

In conclusion, “Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia” does a very bad job enforcing negative stereotypes against African Americans. It depicts them as violent, short tempered, and loud. I know it’s supposed to be a funny show, and it is. But, people who watch the show might be influenced to believe that these stereotypes are actually true. This is why I’m rating this show as low quality media. By all means, the show is hilarious, but is also is sort of damaging. The show produces no values, and enforces negative stereotypes.