As protests continue to break out over the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the controversial topic of how to accurately portray the police in TV and films is back in the forefront. While sitting down for Entertainment Weekly’s The Awardist podcast, Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Andre Braugher made it very clear that he supports tearing down the long-standing myth that cops can break the law whenever they want.
While addressing the “new challenge” faced by the show’s eighth season, Braugher says changes are afoot due to how this year’s George Floyd protests have “profoundly affected” the public’s perception about police:
“It’s a very complicated subject, but I think they have to be portrayed much more realistically, in terms of this: The convention… that police breaking the law is okay because somehow it’s in the service of some greater good, is a myth that needs to be destroyed,” says Braugher. The actor adds that Brooklyn Nine-Nine will also need to grapple with the reality of widespread police misconduct moving forward.
According to Braugher, “the Nine-Nine is going to have to deal with what we know about the New York Police Department,” and that plan appears to already be in the works. In the wake of the George Floyd protests, Terry Crews revealed that showrunner Dan Goor threw out scripts for the eighth season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine after the cast and writers had somber talks about how the show will portray the police going forward. Andy Samberg also confirmed the change of course in an interview with 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,” Samberg said. “I know that we’ll figure it out, but it’s definitely a challenge.”
(Via Entertainment Weekly)
