Issa Rae Wants to Make a 'Gossip Girl' for Black Teens
With the beloved Gossip Girl recently celebrating its 10-year anniversary, the Internet has been flooded with a constant stream of little-known tidbits about the show. But instead of harping upon the very fashionable past, why not look into a more diverse future?
Issa Rae, the creator and star of HBO’s breakout comedy Insecure is doing just that. She’d like nothing more than to see a Gossip Girl-type show aimed at a young black audience, pitching her idea to The New Yorker in a new video in connection with the magazine’s television issue. Unsurprisingly, the idea she has in mind is nothing short of fantastic.
“I would like to pitch you a new show about black teenagers. Think 90201 or Gossip Girl for black kids,” she explained. “Maybe we call it Ladera Heights 90041…. It could be Potomac, Maryland 20854. That’s the real shit.” She even has a few characters in mind—and boring archetypes need not apply. “My main character would be Lil’ Richie. He’s, you know, a young black rich teen. He’s tired of the access and the excess,” Issa continued. “I’m Lil’ Richie, I’m so tired of being rich, there’s more to me than this. I just created a song. That’s the theme song. I would definitely have a ho character who’s always on her ho shit. Just thirsty. No goodie-goodies over here. Not in this show. Nobody was watching 90210 for Tori Spelling.”
But most importantly, Issa says the sheer lack of teen and young-adult programming aimed at a black audience is what’s encouraging her to pursue her pitch. “I don’t think since, I would say, Moesha have we followed the lives of black teens,” she concluded. “So, like, where’s our Gossip Girl? This Gossip Girl is black, bitch…. That’s the tagline!”
https://twitter.com/TheAffinityMag/status/902690005902086145
Form an orderly queue, television executives.