The Office star Leslie David Baker, who is best known for his role as Stanley Hudson on the highly popular NBC sitcom, says the issue of racism has gotten worse than better following his decision to start a crowdfunding campaign for a spin-off of the show. Here’s what you need to know.
Leslie says that he began his Kickstarter campaign in the hopes that he could get a spinoff titled Uncle Stan. The new show would see his character come out of retirement in Florida and move to Los Angeles to help his nephew run a motorcycle and florist business, much to the dismay of Stanley’s soon-to-be-fiancee.
The Office Star Leslie David Baker Says Racism Has Gotten Worse
However, Leslie says that after he announced that product, he received rather harsh comments and messages from racists who were unhappy that he was soliciting The Office fans for money.
In an interview with USA Today, Leslie said, “We’re living in an age in time where there is this movement. We would have thought that these issues would have been rectified years, decades ago. They have not. As a matter of fact, they’ve gotten worse.”
The actor also said that he received messages that included racial slurs, accusations of theft and images of Black people being murdered. Leslie points out that racism has certainly not gone away, but instead just moved itself online.
“It’s not riding down the street in the hood with the burning cross, but instead it’s been replaced with the new technology,” he said. “We think that the old photographs that we see of people being persecuted on the way to school in the South and trying to vote in the ’60s, we think that all of those people have died out. They haven’t died out. They got married. They had children. They had grandchildren, great grandchildren. But they took those beliefs with them, and in many cases, they have not altered those beliefs.”
“You cannot fight racism and combat those types of stereotypical attitudes if you pretend that they don’t exist,” he explained. “All too often in America, people have been so concerned about being made to feel uncomfortable, because they aren’t confronted by racist behavior.”
For now, let us know what you think in the comments section below. In the meantime, don’t forget to check back right here for all the latest news, updates and spoilers on your favorite daytime television shows including ‘The Young and the Restless’, ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’, ‘General Hospital’ and ‘Days of Our Lives’.
For any other soap opera and entertainment news, please visit Daily Soap Dish. For more royal and celeb baby news, come back to Celeb Baby Laundry.
