FX’s hit show Atlanta, written and created by Donald and Stephen Glover, just released a teaser for their fourth and final season. The show has been a staple in the culture since its first season in 2016. However, the show has not gone without its fair share of criticism, especially on the internet and from the Black community. Donald and Stephen addressed the criticism at an appearance at the show’s TCA Press Tour today, August 2nd.
“To be real, if you’re online, everybody’s gonna have an agenda on some level,” Donald said. “It would be silly to say that sometimes what people say doesn’t affect you because—especially being Black —I feel like a lot of the Black criticism bothers me only because it sounds like [it’s from] Black people who don’t really know what we’ve been through. I don’t think they give a lot of credit to what we’ve gone through. So to be like, ‘Oh, these Black people hate Black people or these Black people hate Black women.’— I’m like, It’s such, my it’s such a small view of who we are. I feel like it might even be because of what we’ve been through that you look at us the way you look at us.”
The show creator and musical artist went on to say that he might be “through” with the culture and said that he feels as if a lot of the criticism is coming from “internet people trying to get hot.” “I kind of feel like I’m a little through with the culture, personally. I do a lot of this sh*t for the people. But the culture, I think at this point, I think a lot of us are sitting here being like, ‘Yo, a lot of this sh*t was learned because of f*cked up sh*t that happened to us. And we actually have to relearn a lot of stuff.’ So if you’re sitting there being like, ‘Oh, this is misogynoir,’ I’m wondering why you think that and why you think I feel that way when I’m nothing without my people. It’s just kind of wack to me. Some of that to me is just internet people trying to get hot, which is also something we learned in the system we’re in.”
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Donald went on to admit that he does listen to the criticism and concludes that “the conversation isn’t as elevated as it should be.” “There are better ways to talk about it rather than like with sh*t I’ve heard in fourth grade about who we are because I feel this is such a Black show. To say it’s only for white people, it’s like we’re cutting ourselves down which is kind of wack to me…I’ve seen on Tiktok where people say Atlanta‘s transphobic. Man, I’m neighbors with a trans man and he told me Atlanta is his favorite show. I love how you guys talked about the trans thing because a lot of this sh*t is just takes for the internet, you know?”
Stephen Glover then chimed in and addressed the criticism from Black audieces, saying he feels “rubbed the wrong way” when Black audiences say it’s a show for White people because he thinks the show is indeed for Black people.
“For me, one thing that I don’t like is when people say the show isn’t for Black people because I think it very much is for Black people. That kind of thing rubs me the wrong way,” said Stephen . “But I will also say being in Atlanta and walking around, or even like in LA, I run into Black people all the time who tell me this is their favorite show and how they appreciate everything we do. They also say we’re making them want to do cooler and weirder stuff. You know, like the TikTok generation kids, they’ll hit me up online and say how much they love the episodes. So for me, that’s the real kind of conversations that are happening out there. Internet stuff isn’t always real; it’s not how people really feel. I kind of get my feelings from the streets, to sum that up.”
Atlanta‘s fourth and final season premieres on FX on September 15.