I am sure that with a little more work and effort, they could have found a lesbian friend group that looks far more diverse than this very thin, very light, very cis, very white, very femme group they opted to go with. But the problem here is that Amazon didn’t find any issues with moving forward with this particular friend group that looked the way it does. She says that Amazon didn’t “cast” anyone, that they were seeking pre-existing friend groups. While she says it’s important to listen to the critics and that she understands, her answer - to me - was significantly underwhelming and tone-deaf. (Editors Note: I reached out to her to have a chat but she kindly directed me to Amazon’s PR team and referred me back to the Instagram highlight). On Jordans’ Instagram in an interview with People, she’s asked about the absence of dark-skinned Black lesbians. Some of the cast addressed the response to the show’s colorism. While I don’t agree with folks on social media attempting to erase Mack and Jordans’ Black identity due to their mixed heritage, I do agree with folks saying that dark-skinned Black women will forever have it harder than our racially ambiguous, loose curls sisters.
Two folks who probably went to PWI’s, grew up surrounded by whiteness, and often talk about the plight of being a mixed-race person who was separated from and rejected by the Black community. Amazon cast two Black folks who they thought were acceptable for their viewers, and it’s as simple as that. Whether it’s Mack wearing a t-shirt with a still from Friday, or when she’s in the background of cast member and artist Mel’s video talking about the importance of her Black Lives Matter mural. Filming reads like production wanted to heighten their Blackness when they are on camera. The Black cast members (Mack and Jordan) feel like characters instead of actual cast members. I don’t fit the mold of a snapback sapphic, nor am I the Black Fat Lesbian friend that’s going to let you attempt to twerk on her and look the other way when you drop AAVE. That’s no worry anyway because the way their crew is portrayed in the show, I’m sure I wouldn’t receive an invite. Would I party in their house? Nah, I’ve already served my time being the only visibly Black girl at the party. The cast includes self-proclaimed lesbian it couple Murphy and Haley, who are known for throwing elaborate parties at their very fancy home. Anyway, back to my issues with this mess of a show and less on my love of Amara La Negra. Most recently, Amara La Negra (who is Afro-Latina) brought that point up when she was on “Red Table Talk: The Estefans”, where she spoke about being denied roles because they wanted someone who looked “more Latina” (fair-skinned with straight hair), essentially telling her because she was dark-skinned and Black, viewers wouldn’t read her as Latina.
FANCY GAY BAR TAMPA SERIES
Something that lovers of the series seem to have overlooked when they took to social media this past weekend to defend it, listing cast members from Middle Eastern, Native and Latinx backgrounds under the POC moniker. But I urge you to remember that you can be from those backgrounds - and still be white. Am I aware that there are folks on the show from diverse backgrounds? Yes. Tampa Bay has an almost 23% Black population, so while that may not be a lot - there ain’t no way in gay hell you can tell me you couldn’t find at least a handful of dark-skinned thick niggas to put on this lily-white show. The scene laid over her voice shows a bunch of giggly white and fair-skinned folks at parades and bars in sunny Tampa Bay, Florida. Within the first two minutes of Amazon’s new lesbian reality series, Tampa Baes, one of its many white cast members Cuppie gloats that the city has a diverse population.