The new trailer for Netflix’s animated Good Times reboot has prompted strong reactions, including calls for viewers to boycott the series.
Netflix released the trailer Wednesday, March 27, on the X social media platform.
Inspired by Norman Lear’s classic 1970s sitcom, the video shows a new generation of the Evans family living in a housing project in Chicago.
Cab driver Reggie Evans questions why he ever had children, a drug-dealing baby comments on a woman’s breasts, rival crews get into a gun battle, and a teacher sips from a flask in her classroom.
Related Story: ‘Good Times’ Animated Reboot Premiere Date and Photos Unveiled
JB Smoove, Yvette Nicole Brown, Jay Pharoah, Slink Johnson, Marsai Martin, and Wanda Sykes star in an irreverent reimagining of the TV classic Good Times.
From Ranada Shepard and EPs Stephen Curry, Norman Lear, and Seth MacFarlane. Premiering April 12. pic.twitter.com/VLZW2akC8c
— Netflix (@netflix) March 27, 2024
The trailer post has thousands of likes and over 1,100 comments, including some directing X users to a Change.Org petition urging Netflix to shelve the series.
The petition, started by Alistair Fannell of Springfield, Missouri, describes the trailer as “stereotypical” and says it “promotes violence, culture destruction of the Black community and alcohol abuse.”
As of Thursday evening, the petition had about 120 signatures.
One person who signed it said the reboot “makes a mockery of what the original Good Times was about.”
Another person described the trailer as “very racist.”
Someone else wrote, “They literally took a classic show and upped the stereotypes to 1,000% and injected it with steroids.”
The official description says the series is an “irreverent reimagining” of the original sitcom.
The animated comedy comes from executive producer Seth MacFarlane and showrunner Ranada Shepard.
The voice cast includes J.B. Smoove as “Reggie Evans” and Yvette Nicole Brown as “Beverly Evans,” along with Jay Pharoah, Marsai Martin, Gerald “Slink” Johnson, and Rashida “Sheedz” Olayiwola.
Yvette Nicole Brown responded to the criticism on X and asked viewers to watch the actual the series — which comes out April 12 — instead of basing their opinions on a two-minute trailer.
“Nobody’s forcing you to watch something you don’t want to watch. Just don’t watch. Solved,” the actress wrote Wednesday in a thread.
“I’ve spent my whole life shining a light on the things that matter & calling out the systems that keep a boot on our necks. At times, I take parts in projects that do the same — even if they are irreverent or risky,” Brown added in a follow-up post. “Coming for me as if that’s wrong is a fool’s errand.”
“Now get out there & write your screeds about a show you’ve seen just a two-minute trailer for. Go off as if you know the fullness of the journey or the message we’re trying to share about the systemic barriers WE still face no matter our station in life #GoodTimes Indeed!” the actress added.
The 10-episode series is produced in partnership with Norman Lear‘s Act III Productions, Sony Pictures Television, Fuzzy Door Productions, and Unanimous Media.
Among the executive producers are Steph Curry, Brent Miller, Erica Huggins, Erick Peyton, and Jeron Smith.
