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Chris Rock Fought for a Black Woman to Play His Mother on ‘Everybody Hates Chris’
The network asked “does the girl have to be black?”
I read this story a while back. It was Chris Rock talking about his tv show Everybody Hates Chris. This was a show loosely based on his childhood. Where he grew up in a rough part of Brooklyn and was bussed to a white neighborhood, where he attended Catholic school.
When they were trying to find a woman to play his mother (Rochelle Rock). His choice was Tichina Arnold. A woman we already knew and loved from her character ‘Pam’ on the sitcom Martin. He explains that in his meeting with the network, they did not want Tichina Arnold They wanted to cast a biracial or light skinned woman instead. Yes you heard that right, they wanted a biracial looking woman to play his non-biracial black mother.
This information should not be a surprise really. We all know that it happens everyday — it has to. Otherwise the imbalance makes no sense whatsoever. Clearly Hollywood is not a reflection of reality. What really surprised me though was that a big star like Chris Rock was acknowledging it.
I think a Comedian should be honest. Any artist really — honesty makes you a better artist. If you call yourself a Comedian you are often a social commentator, an observer…
