I'm not watching the world cup for reasons. But I don't want to talk about soccer. I want to talk about racism and erasure in major TV shows.
Shows set in New York City like "Sex and the City," "Girls," and "Friends," show an NYC almost exclusively populated by white folk. But real NYC doesn't look like that. 1 in 20 Black US citizens lives in NYC🤷🏿♂️
And American made shows like "Emily in Paris," show almost no Black folk in Paris. But:
The state of California is about 40 million people, around 5% of whom are Black.
France is about 67 million people, 4% to 7% of whom are Black.
France is Blacker than California, and there are more Black people living in France than in California.
Some folks including the show's creator, say things like, "But Emily in Paris is escapist fantasy! We want it to be glamorous!" Which makes me wonder, "🤔What are you escaping from?" And "Black people can't be glamorous?"
Here's the silliest part:
Way more than half of the "Emily in Paris" US audience would have absolutely no problem if there were more Black Parisian extras, or Black women with speaking lines.♥️👍🏿 And Black viewers would see themselves more represented. They would make *more* money.
If you're hiring extras for a crowd in Paris, and you want it to be almost all white, you have to intentionally filter out Black and Arabic actors. It's more work, to make less money🙂🙃
@mekkaokereke I'm trying to imagine an all-white Paris and it's just strange.
Lupin was a huge success, showed a pretty accurate (if excessively pretty, which is a general showbiz problem) Parisian population, AND also showed the casual racism they have there.
mekka okereke 
Vijay
jwill