Kenya Barris Criticized Over Interracial Couple In ‘Cheaper By The Dozen’ Remake, Starring Gabrielle Union & Zach Braff

Kenya Barris Criticized Over Interracial Couple In ‘Cheaper By The Dozen’ Remake, Starring Gabrielle Union & Zach Braff

Kenya Barris’s latest project is getting him lots of criticism on social media.

New reports announced an upcoming reboot of Cheaper By The Dozen which will star Gabrielle Union and Zach Braff as an interracial couple. Kenya Barris wrote the script. Gail Lerner, a writer, executive producer, and director for Kenya Barris’s blackish will direct the new project. It tells the story of a multiracial family, blended family of 12, and their life experiences. The original was released in 2003 and starred Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt. The sequel was released in 2005.

Shortly after the announcement of a reboot, many social media users took issue with Kenya Barris featuring a black and white couple in another project.

Kenya Barris has been previously criticized for featuring biracial families in multiple shows like blackish and Black AF. He denied accusations that he is a colorist last year.

He said of the backlash,

“This is based on my family.  She’s playing a version of my wife whose biracial.  My wife is biracial, she’s playing a version of that character. My kids, what Rashida and I could produce, looks like those kids, who are amazing. And so I feel like, you know I think the sometimes we just need to, like I talked about like informing ourselves  more. I think everyone’s experience and opinion in terms of, you know color-ism are real, and I understand that.  But if you just dug a little bit under the surface, you would understand that this is based upon, biographical, this was based on my family, and I was trying to  duplicate a version of what my family was.  I think that would have calmed a lot of the natives, you know what I’m saying but at the same time, it’s important that it didn’t, cause’  it speaks to the ideas that there is so much color-ism in the world, and it shows important this is to people  so I take the good with bad.  The ignorance I have a little bit of a problem with. But I take opinions good with the bad, because if you listen to any of them you gotta listen to all of them.”

What are your thoughts on the criticism against Kenya Barris? Comment and let us know.

Authored by: Char