Quinta Brunson has a boatload of ideas for her popular show “Abbott Elementary,” but a school shooting episode is not one.
The actress and writer recently doubled down on why she’s uninterested in tackling the heavy topic in a new interview with Glamour magazine. In the interview, Brunson, 33, noted that while mass shootings are a worldwide issue, she doesn’t want her sitcom to cross the line into political topics.
“I don’t want to open my show to that political violence,” she told the outlet for her Woman Of The Year profile.
Brunson continued, “I consider it that at this point — even the discourse of it is violent. And although I participate in it outside of my show, and I’m a huge advocate for eradicating gun violence in this county, but I don’t think my show has to carry that.”
The Philadelphia native said she’s fully aware that school shootings are unfortunate realities for teachers but she also knows that they are not their only reality. Brunson told the magazine that whenever she talks to her friends who are teachers they’re simply trying to get through their day just like everyone else.
“They’re just trying to get the reading scores up,” she said. “They’re just trying to do this job. If anything, the school shooting thing is in the background, like, ‘F–k.’ It’s kind of like, ‘We got to deal with that too?’ Do you know what I mean?”
Brunson also suggested that “day-to-day workplace comedy” and “realistic day-to-day in the classroom” are “two very different realities.”
“There’s the one present in the classroom where teachers are just trying to get through a lesson. And then there’s the outside perspective of us engaging with teachers through the news,” she said.
The Emmy winner’s “complicated” explanation was shared on The Jasmine Brand’s Instagram page, where commenters’ opinions seemed to be split. A few people found an issue with the school shooting suggestion, claiming that America has a problem normalizing situations that shouldn’t be a concern in the first place.
One person wrote, “America so d—m desensitized. Why the h—l would anyone want to see that,” followed by another that read, “It’s a sitcom! There is nothing funny about school shootings.”
Another handle stated, “Who even wants to see that??? We’ve been dealing with shootings taking place everywhere. Grocery stores, malls, stop lights, etc. why even ask her this.”
There were also individuals who encouraged Brunson to “use her platform” to shine a light on the dark topic. Two of those comments include, “Politics has nothing to do with it. Use your platform to bring change, girl,” and “I understand her point, but there is nothing political about school shootings.”
This isn’t the first time Brunson rejected the possibility of a school shooting episode. Back in 2022, she shared a series of tweets on X, explaining how “deeply removed” folks are for requesting a traumatic episode right after the deadly Uvalde school shooting.
“Wild how many people have asked for a school shooting episode of the show I write,” she penned.
Her tweet continued reading, “people are that deeply removed from demanding more from the politicians they’ve elected and are instead demanding ‘entertainment.’ I can’t ask ‘are yall ok’ anymore because the answer is ‘no.’”
She also included a supposed text message from someone who proposed the idea of an “eventful series finale” that revolved around a school shooting in order to “get our government to understand why laws need to pass.”
“Abbott Elementary” is an ABC original that follows the everyday life of passionate, underpaid teachers who work in the Philadelphia public school district. The series premiered in 2021 and has already racked up numerous accolades, such as an Emmy award for Outstanding Writing For a Comedy Series in 2022.
The sitcom is currently filming its third season. However, it is unclear when ABC plans to air new episodes.
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