Singer Pharrell Williams and Black-ish/BlackAF creator Kenya Barris are in talks with Netflix about a feature-length musical about Juneteenth, according to a Deadline scoop.
Barris (above) did an entire episode of Black-ish on Juneteenth, and both men have been part of the push to make it a national holiday. Many companies are also now closing offices in observance of Juneteenth, with many also making it a paid holiday. Via Deadline:
Virginia and New York joined Texas as the states that recognize Juneteenth, which celebrates June 19, 1865, the day that General Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas to announce that slaves were now free, as a state holiday. Calls to make Juneteenth a federal holiday have increased over the last few weeks following the killing of George Floyd and the subsequent protests around police brutality and increasing conversation around systemic racism in the country.
Barris has also been vocal about his ambition to make Juneteenth a national holiday. His latest series BlackAF, which launched on Netflix in April, featured a Juneteenth party and his ABC comedy Black-ish dedicated a landmark episode to mark the holiday. That episode, which kicked off the show’s fourth season, has been lauded for bringing even more attention to the date. It was rebroadcast by ABC on Blackout Tuesday. Barris has said that it’s one of the most meaningful things that he’s ever worked on.
It’s time! Let’s hope this happens as part of the current momentum!
Image: © Image Press Agency/Avalon.red (Williams), © Avalon/Image Press Agency (Barris)
