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Donald Glover said he and the writers of “Atlanta” were racially harassed in London.
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The “Atlanta” writing team was in London producing the show’s third season.
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“It was the first night there,” Stephen Glover told a TCA press conference.
Donald Glover and the writing team of FX’s “Atlanta” said they were racially harassed on their first evening in London during the production of the show’s highly anticipated third season.
Glover and his co-writers Stefani Robinson and Stephen Glover — Donald’s brother — discussed the incident on Thursday at the Television Critics Association’s virtual winter press conference when they were asked if there were any moments during the show’s production in London when they felt like “fish out of water.”
“It was the first night there,” Stephen told the press conference about the incident, which he said occurred when a group of intoxicated people approached the “Atlanta” team when they were standing outside of a closed bar near their home in London.
“This group of people walks up. And maybe one of them kind of notices Donald or recognizes him,” Stephen said. “And she stops and they start asking if they know anywhere around here to get something to drink. I think we were talking to them for a second. It’s this girl and two or three guys.”
Stephen said that one of the men in the group proceeded to say that the “Atlanta” writers could break into the bar because “you guys all carry hammers.” The word hammer is often used as a slang term for a gun.
“Mind you, all of the writers on ‘Atlanta’ are Black. So, he’s making a reference that we all have hammers, and we can just break into this place, which we kind of ignored,” Stephen said.
Robinson said that it took the “Atlanta” team a while to realize what the man was referring to with the word “hammer.” However, she said the incident continued to escalate.
“It was so insulting but not insulting at the same time because it took us five minutes to fully understand,” Robinson said. “He got to a point of like if the insinuation was lost on us, he got specific and he was like, ‘You guys are Black, you’ve gone to jail and you do things like that.’ Like he kept doubling down on it.”
Stephen said the incident concluded as the group of “Atlanta” writers were talking to one of the women they encountered on the street.
“She’s talking to us. And then, after a minute, the guy just runs back down the street and grabs her and throws her over his shoulder, and he’s like, ‘Run. They are going to rape you, like, rape you,'” Stephen said. “The girl was literally, like, ‘I’m sorry,’ as she’s being taken away. So, it was pretty bad.”
“We are just standing there, like, ‘What just happened?'” Donald added.
Elsewhere during the press conference, Donald Glover confirmed that “Atlanta” will end after season four, which has already finished shooting and will air in the fall. The show’s third season will debut on March 24.
“When the conditions are right for something to happen, it happens, and when they’re not, it doesn’t,” Donald said while also highlighting that the show’s end was not due to his new production deal with Amazon.
“The story was always supposed to be what it was.”
Read the original article on Insider
