“SNL” cast member Leslie Jones is not one to shy away from controversy, and she seems to relish the opportunity to jump into the debates she stirs up. The dark-skinned six footer made a big splash a couple of years ago during a SNL Weekend Update sketch in which she proclaimed that she would have been a “Number 1 slave draft pick.” She defended herself against Black Twitter back then by stating that she was keeping it real and expressing a lifetime of pain through her chosen art form. She further chastised her critics for not supporting her as a black woman, and suggested that her male counterparts such as Dave Chappelle or Chris Rock would have been praised and called “brilliant.”
This time around, the heartburn of the Twitterati results from Jones being cast in the role of the Black ghostbuster in the upcoming Ghostbusters remake to be released on July 15. In her role as an average, everyday MTA employee, likely the sole provider of “street smarts” for the foursome, she will be playing the only ghostbuster who is not a scientist. Despite the fact that director Paul Feig followed a similar formula that was used in the casting of the only Black ghostbuster in the original film – Ernie Hudson also played a non-scientific member of the team – today’s societal sensibilities simply won’t let such real or imagined slights go unchecked.
Jones once again faces detractors on social media, many of whom call the character a “coon,” a racial slur often used in the Black community to imply that another Black person is “shucking and jiving” or “cooning” for White people. Via Twitter, Jones mounted a valiant defense of her choice to play the role, basically saying people just need to lighten up and enjoy the movie for the entertainment it is. As she usually does in these situations, the comedienne also seized upon a teachable moment by posing the question, “Why can’t a regular person be a ghostbuster?” and stating that “Regular people save the world everyday.”
What do you think of Jones’ character and her response to critics? Let us know in the comments section below.
See what else Jones had to say to her “haters” below:
