The nation’s collective attention may be moving back toward an alarming rise in COVID-19 cases across the south, but cities and towns across the country continue to see massive Black Lives Matter protests and people across the political spectrum calling for police reform. In an ongoing conversation about race and our nation’s perception of race relations and law enforcement, a number of shows in the entertainment industry have seen cancelation or changes made.
LivePD and the long-running Cops, for example, were cancelled. And according to Terry Crews the writers of Brooklyn 99 scrapped its new season entirely to start over with the sea change in progress in mind. Andy Samberg, who stars in the show, has also admitted that it will be a “challenge” to make new episodes of the comedy that focuses on a police precinct in Brooklyn.
In an interview with People, Samberg said the show’s writers and actors are doing their best to handle things sensitively, but he wasn’t entirely sure the show would be able to thread the needle.
“We’re taking a step back, and the writers are all rethinking how we’re going to move forward, as well as the cast,” Samberg, 41, tells PEOPLE. “We’re all in touch and kind of discussing how you make a comedy show about police right now, and if we can find a way of doing that that we all feel morally okay about.”
“I know that we’ll figure it out, but it’s definitely a challenge, so we’ll see how it goes,” adds the actor, who plays Det. Jake Peralta.
It’s not an easy thing to do, for sure, and some have even suggested changing the location of the show entirely and make it something other than a police drama. But given the troubles Crews has gotten himself into with critical comments about the Black Lives Matter movement in recent weeks, it makes sense that Samberg and the rest of the cast is trying to be careful in how they move forward. Right now, it doesn’t seem like they have any definitive solutions just yet.
[via People]