This week, Laurence Fishburne found a way to involve Justin Bieber while explaining the title of his new show, Black-ish.
Fishburne, who stars in and produces the ABC comedy, joined The View Monday to clear up questions on what the show’s title actually means:
I think of [the term] this way—two words: Justin Bieber. Justin Bieber acts ‘black-ish,’ but he doesn’t get shot by the police. He gets a police escort home.
Well ok, then.
Goldberg had said she “didn’t understand” why people get freaked out by the word ‘black-ish.’
“I don’t know,” Fishburne answered, looking around the room at the audience with a quizzical gaze. The gaze drew tons of laughter form the crowd.
“Black-ish is not unlike squeamish or blue-ish or Jewish,” Fishburne said. “But it means, ultimately, well depending on your perspective, for some people it means when black folks kind of act white, for some folks it means when white folks kind of act black.”
Fishburne then further clarified his definition by saying later in the interview, “If you like rock and roll, if you like rhythm and blues, if you like jazz, if you like hip-hop, you might be black-ish.”