PRODUCTION/CULTURAL REFERENCES (written 12/23/18-12/24/18)
-We have less than nine days left in 2018. What a mess.
-I came up with the idea for this episode back in July. I remember being disgusted at the announcement of WWE reinstating Hulk Hogan into its Hall of Fame, which was them essentially forgiving him for his actions three years prior. Back in the summer of 2015, a tape was released online where Hogan, not knowing he was being recorded, made several inflammatory statements directed at African-Americans. He even admitted to being "racist, to a point" on the tape. WWE distanced themselves from Hogan after the tape's release, but part of me believes it was only to avoid bad publicity and the plan was to always bring him back.
-Hogan getting reinstated wasn't the sole reason for me making this episode. It was the reactions to Hogan being reinstated that pushed me over the edge. For several people, the reaction was positive. Many of them were excited to see Hogan back, claiming that what he did was a mistake that he had learned from. He deserved a second chance, he wasn't really a racist, he didn't know he was being taped, etc. What that meant to me was that everybody was simply excusing Hogan's racism because he was Hulk Hogan, a wrestler they admired and looked up to. A person doesn't just learn to not be a racist over a few years. The tape was a reflection of Hogan's true feelings, and he was a middle-aged man who had spent years traveling the world working with African-American people. For him to make those statements, and then later on continue to not understand why people were offended, leads me to believe he never changed or learned anything from the incident. He will be a racist until the day he dies, and he was only sorry because he got caught.
-I don't remember the exact day I came up with this episode, but it was just a way for me to deal with how I felt regarding the Hogan situation. Nothing about the main plot was changed from when I first thought of the idea. It was the same from start to finish: A situation where the kids really like and respect this new teacher who appears to be a great guy on the surface, but was really just adept at hiding his controversial thoughts from everyone.
-To complement the main plot, I added the subplot weeks later, and that was also unchanged from what I originally thought of. The subplot actually combines two Lynne-focused episodes from the last two seasons, "Reality Bites III" in season five and "War of the Salehs" from last season. In "Reality Bites III," Lynne is revealed to be a huge fan of the PBS children's series Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. In "War of the Salehs," I introduced Lynne's friends: Farrazhan, Aliya, and Melissa. Both of those elements came into play in this episode as Lynne found out this terrible thing about her favorite show. The subplot dealt with a similar topic as the main plot, but in a different way. One thing I wanted to do more this season was to have episodes where both plots connected with each other, and this is what I was envisioning months ago when I made it one of my goals.
-The crazy thing about the subplot is it somehow became more relevant in the last few weeks than when I came up with it a few months ago. Celebrities have been getting exposed on Twitter for a while now, forced to own up to offensive tweets from a time where they were much less visible and social media was nowhere near as widespread as it is now. One recent example that made the subplot timely was Kevin Hart being held accountable for previous homophobic tweets, and a joke during one of his older routines where he expressed concern at the thought of having a gay son. The tweets were reposted when Hart was announced as the host of next year's Academy Awards. After refusing to apologize, Hart stepped down from his hosting job and apologized anyway. I actually made a reference to that in last week's episode.
-The episode is named after the Nas song off his 2004 double album Street's Disciple. I was working on an episode last season with an almost identical title, but it was never finished. I decided to save it and see if I could work on it this season. If I'm able to finish it, I'll explain the situation regarding the title.
-I chose Matt LeBlanc as Mr. Halston because he seemed like the kind of person that a lot of people would be disappointed by if it ever came out that he was a racist. He's mostly known to the world as Joey Tribbiani, so this is like imagining what would happen if Joey was racist. Some of Mr. Halston's lines were written with Joey in mind, especially with his ranting in the next-to-last scene of the episode.
-Mr. Halston references sports commentator and Vegas bookmaker Jimmy Snyder, also known as Jimmy the Greek.
-Anja's mentioning of Between the Lions is a callback to her previously referencing it in "Jaylynn, Anja, & Halley" as a way to break up the tension between her and Jaylynn.
-The majority of scene 12 was written weeks ago, long before I started working on the episode. Starting last season, if I had an idea for a scene in an upcoming episode, I would write out the whole thing in my notes and then add it to the script when I was ready. Some of the episodes where I've used this technique include "Another Thank You, Heavenly Christmas," "'J,' My Name is Jaylynn," "The RK Feline Fiasco Remix," and "Y2RK."
-I used the "Yellow Brick Road" instrumental because the original song was Eminem's response to an anti-black song he had recorded in 1988 called "Foolish Pride." The song was released publicly in 2003 by the hip hop magazine The Source, ran at the time by Benzino who was in the middle of a feud with Eminem. "Yellow Brick Road" addresses Eminem's upbringing, his issues trying to fit into the hip hop community as a teenager, and his reasons for recording "Foolish Pride."