Actor John Amos and filmmaker K.C. Amos are collaborating on a docuseries that delves into their distinctive father-son relationship. The duo is confident that the episodes will offer valuable insights into their individual careers while showcasing the shared joys of their collaborative work. The series aims to shed light on the experience of being pioneers as one of television’s first Black fathers and what it means to be raised by one of the nation’s trailblazing Black fathers.
“It covers my career, his career, our joint careers,” John Amos told People in a recent interview. “And it’s something that I think every father and son will want to see.”
And it will be, according to the 84-year-old, “the definitive explanation and the definitive description as to who we are.”
“Having my own son working with me as a filmmaker,” the actor said, “it’s a blessing because we can capture these moments of inspiration as they come to us and share them with those young men and even older men who are willing to hear and watch it because they’ll see a little bit of themselves in our relationship.”
K.C. added insight on the docuseries, saying, “We’re calling it ‘America’s Dad’ because so many young men have come up to me and said, ‘Your father was my father.’”
He energetically explained that people from all walks of life have come up to him and asked for hugs and shared that they wanted to have a chance to shake his father’s hand, feeling a closeness to him after watching him for over five decades on their television on shows like “Good Times,” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “The West Wing” and in movies like “Coming to America.”
This month, John Amos will revisit one of his most iconic roles in "Coming 2 America," the sequel to the beloved Eddie Murphy comedy.
— TIME (@TIME) March 5, 2021
In our interview, Amos watched some of the most memorable scenes from across his career and reflected on them https://t.co/2M9oldIONq pic.twitter.com/U24bkw3jsO
John Amos understands what he means to others and appreciates the love he receives from fans.
“One of the most gratifying things about this is that these young men that come up to me and express themselves the way K.C. just described it, they’ll be from various ethnic backgrounds,” John said. “And I love that because a real father speaks to all younger people. And if you’ve had the experience, the primary thing in your life is you want to share the experience, the positives and all these things that help them avoid the pitfalls that wait for so many young men.”
K.C. has been sharing the project with his Instagram 135,000 followers and encouraging them to read up on it. Fans, who for the most part all agree that he looks like a lighter-skinned, curly-haired replica of his dad, are here for the show.
“I actually thought you were your Dad when I was scrolling on my phone. Great story. Looking forward to the film,” one person wrote.
“I can’t think of anyone worthy of doing this Docuseries. I’m looking forward to seeing it,” another said.
While the two are promoting the new show, they have not mentioned anything about the “Roots” star’s “acrimonious relationship” with his only daughter, Shannon Amos.
John and K.C. have been working on this docuseries for two and a half years — months before the family made headlines when Shannon took to social media and created a GoFundMe page alleging her father was a victim of elder abuse.
According to Shannon, she received a distress call from her father, who she claimed was hospitalized in Memphis, Tennessee, and needed $500,000 from his fans for his care.
John quickly denied the claims through a representative and later posted on his social media, “The Go Fund was not authorized by John Amos.”
He said that if there was any abuse going on it would have been at the hands of his daughter.
“I feel she was taking advantage of me and she would be the primary suspect, if you would.”
“I don’t know if that’s the right term to use or not,” John added. “But she’s the one that I would attribute my elderly abuse to and it’s definitely a case of elderly abuse.”
These allegations sparked a flood of sniping between the siblings, ultimately leading to K.C.’s arrest for threatening to “kill Shannon Amos with the purpose to put her in imminent fear of death.”
Shannon claimed that her brother sent her “terroristic threats” including a video of him shooting a handgun and showed authorities text messages that read, “gonna sleep much better tonight big sis” attached to a picture of the handgun.
The allegations did not seem to hinder the father-son series — and may be addressed.
Shannon has not commented publicly about the docu-series and has not updated her Instagram since September.
