Jilly and I are on our way to Keystone Comic Con.
Me: Hey, I just got the weirdest text. Get this:
Me, reading phone: “Okay help me out is this racist?”
Me: And then it links to this ad:
Me, reading phone: I’m looking for an in house staff comedy writer ( living in LA ) to help punch up an 8 episode series set to shoot in early 2019. The series centers around an interracial relationship between an African American man and a Caucasian woman brought together through outlandish circumstances. I’m looking for someone who can truly identify with the protagonist and help bring that character vibrantly to life.
Me: That doesn’t sound racist to me.
Jilly: In what way is that racist?
Jilly and I look at each other.
Me: What do you think, Lyft Driver?
Lyft Driver, a black man: Uhh… that sounds okay to me.
Lyft Driver: I mean, if you’re going to be making a TV series where there’s an important black character, having a black dude around would be helpful? I mean, how else are you going to get that perspective? If you write a white character and cast a black dude, his blackness isn’t really gonna come across.
Me and Jilly: That was really insightful.
Lyft Driver: Yeah, I mean, I sometimes like to tell stories on my Instagram, so I think about this stuff.
Me: What’s your Instagram?
Lyft Driver tells me his Instagram, then we arrive at our destination.
Me: Oh that’s pretty easy! I’ll remember that.
Reader, I do not remember it.