Quinta Brunson Explains Why There Won’t Be A School Shooting Episode For ‘Abbott Elementary’: ‘I Don’t Want to Open Up My Show to That Political Violence’

Quinta Brunson in “Abbott Elementary”

Quinta Brunson Explains Why There Won’t Be A School Shooting Episode For ‘Abbott Elementary’: ‘I Don’t Want to Open Up My Show to That Political Violence’

Actress/writer Quinta Brunson isn’t changing her mind about not having a school shooting depicted in her hit series “Abbott Elementary.”

Last May, the series creator slammed fans for asking to have an episode of  “Abbott Elementary” dedicated to school mass shootings. In response to the request, the Emmy Award winner took to X and said,

“wild how many people have asked for a school shooting episode of the show I write. people are that deeply removed from demanding more from the politicians they’ve elected and are instead demanding “entertainment.” I can’t ask “are yall ok” anymore because the answer is “no.”

During a recent interview, Quinta Brunson further elaborated on her stance, explaining,

“I just think about the day-to-day in a workplace comedy, and I don’t think that that’s the realistic day-to-day in the classroom. There are two different realities. There’s the one present in the classroom where teachers are just trying to get through a lesson. And then there’s the outside perspective of us engaging with teachers through the news.”

Quinta Brunson

Quinta Brunson then highlighted how her viewpoint on this matter is similar to her thoughts on writing a storyline centered around her character’s race.

“I wanted to talk about, instead of ‘Janine confronts her Blackness,’ or ‘Janine deals with this race issue,’ it’s really just like, ‘Janine is trying to change a light bulb.’ I think that’s the way the majority of the people that I [know are]. When they’re at work, the issue at work is just the task at hand.”

Quinta said that she’s had conversations with her friends who are teachers in real life and learned,

“They’re just trying to get the reading scores up. They’re just trying to do this job. If anything, the school shooting thing is in the background, like, ‘F*ck.’ It’s kind of like, ‘We got to deal with that too?’”

ABBOTT ELEMENTARY – “Pilot” ABC/ TYLER JAMES WILLIAMS, QUINTA BRUNSON, SHERYL LEE RALPH

She continued,

“I don’t want to open up my show to that political violence. I consider it that at this point — even the discourse of it is violent. And although I participate in it outside of my show, and I’m a huge advocate for eradicating gun violence in this country … I don’t think my show has to carry that.”

“Abbott Elementary” premiered in 2021 and aired its second season September 2022 – April 2023. In January of this year, the critically acclaimed series was renewed for season three. The mockumentary sitcom centers around a fictional predominantly Black elementary school located in Philadelphia.

[VIA]

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