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'Black-ish' creator Kenya Barris is 'tired of talking about diversity'

By Sarah Mulé
Yara Shahidi, Marsai Martin, Tracee Ellis Ross, with writer Kenya Barris and actor/host Anthony Anderson (L-R) accept the award for Outstanding Comedy Series for "Black-ish" during the 46th NAACP Image Awards on February 6, 2015. Barris said recently that he is "tired of talking about diversity" when it comes to the show. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI
1 of 3 | Yara Shahidi, Marsai Martin, Tracee Ellis Ross, with writer Kenya Barris and actor/host Anthony Anderson (L-R) accept the award for Outstanding Comedy Series for "Black-ish" during the 46th NAACP Image Awards on February 6, 2015. Barris said recently that he is "tired of talking about diversity" when it comes to the show. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Black-ish creator/executive producer Kenya Barris is "tired of talking about diversity."

During a panel at the Television Critics Association summer press tour on Thursday, Barris was asked about the racial makeup of the show's audience and if that data skews the topics the show addresses.

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In response, Barris said that focusing solely on race is not the point of the show.

"I have the best job in the world and I'm constantly having to talk about diversity," he said. "I have the best actors. This is ridiculous. We're at a time when everything is about black and white."

Black-ish has tackled some hot-button issues in its first two seasons from the use of the "n-word" to police brutality.

Barris said the show is more than just that. It's a show about a family, not just about race issues.

"We're so divisive as a community and we always have to box everything in, and I kind of feel like, isn't it just a good family show? It's specifically about a black family, but don't you see yourself in it?" an exasperated Barris asked the reporter who posed the question. "Don't you see your family reflected in it? Why is it important who watches the show? Why does it matter?"

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Black-ish, which is loosely based on Barris' own family, tells the story of the Johnson family -- Dre, played by Anthony Anderson, and wife Rainbow, played by Tracee Ellis Ross, and their three kids. Along with regular appearances by Dre's parents, played by Laurence Fishburne and Jenifer Lewis, the show follows the family as they try to navigate life.

Anderson and Ross have both been nominated for Primetime Emmy Awards for their work on the series, which returns for its third season in September.

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