Kimberly Hebert Gregory is a black woman who takes a ton of crap (and gives it right back) from two white men in HBO’s “Vice Principals” — and the actress behind Dr. Belinda Brown would have it no other way.
During the sitcom’s Saturday morning Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour panel, a member of the media asked the cast and creators how they maintain a comedic tone with such a glaring depiction of Caucasian men ganging up on an African-American woman.
Gregory (pictured above, middle) fielded the question at one point. “This is actually what casting equality looks like,” she said. “[The plot] is about power, and it’s not about race, and it’s not necessarily about gender.”
“As a woman of color, and as an actor … I want to be in a space where I can fight two white men,” she concluded.
Earlier, creator and co-star Danny McBride (above, left) answered it from his perspective as both actor and producer.
“I think it would be underestimating the show to assume we’re just going for laughs with this,” he said. “We’re well-aware of the optics of that look. That’s part of the story — these guys make a very bad choice and it haunts them for the rest of the series.”
Walton Goggins (above, right) added that viewing this series as two white dudes versus a black woman would be “a two-dimensional view” of the project.
“Really, it’s a a show about two a–holes who don’t have it figured it out,” McBride chimed back in. “So, the fact you’d be appalled by something they do — well, we are too. That’s what the story’s about.”