Quinta Brunson Says People Keep Asking Her To Do A School Shooting Episode On “Abbot Elementary”
If you’ve ever watched an episode of the charming (and also very funny) elementary school sitcom Abbott Elementary by TIME 100 influential person Quinta Brunson, then you know it’s generally a light-hearted show about the ha-ha-has of teaching at a public school. But I guess some people see the “Elementary” in Abbott Elementary, and the most corroded wrinkle of their brain goes straight to wondering how Sheryl Lee Ralph and Principal Coleman would handle an active shooter situation. A lot of people think that way because Quinta recently revealed that she gets asked to write a school shooter episode a lot.
Quinta’s revelation comes in response to Tuesday’s devastating school shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX. Apparently, there are some ghoulish types who want to see that kind of horror played out on a scripted half-hour weekly comedy, and they’ve given some creative feedback to Quinta, who created the show, has written several episodes, and stars as the forever-optimistic second-grade teacher Janine Teagues. What episode caused some viewers to call up Quinta like, “You know what? This show doesn’t have enough soul-shaking terror.” Probably the one where the goofy new volunteer art teacher tries to woke-up the story of Peter Rabbit. The day after the shooting in Uvalde, Quinta tweeted the following:
https://twitter.com/quintabrunson/status/1529543520909787136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1529543520909787136%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdeadline.com%2F2022%2F05%2Fabbott-elementary-quinta-brunson-school-shooting-1235033147%2F
Maybe Abbott Elementary could write an episode addressing the fact that it’s a damn TV show and not part of the instructional materials for an active shooter drill? Because some are under the impression that Abbott Elementary – a comedy on ABC – is considered a nationally recognized teaching resource. Again, this is a show in which the most serious, moving moment happens when Quinta’s character is shielded from the rain by an open umbrella presented to her by her secret crush.
a white woman asking a black creator to what, make a psa on this shit?? pic.twitter.com/lTcV8mF8yX
— beck (@himboni) May 24, 2022
https://twitter.com/quintabrunson/status/1529571903102324736
Truly the best use of a clown emoji that has ever been. Also, for the series finale?? That’s how you want to go out after however many seasons of a joyful network sitcom (at least six, I pray. I need as much Principal Ava Coleman in my life as humanly possible). It’s entirely too bold of that random clown to assume the politicians in charge of effecting real change consider Abbott Elementary as their must-see TV of the week. Also, some of them are so divorced from reality, that if they did watch said hypothetical episode, they’d respond by tweeting something like, “Thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of Abbott Elementary in Philadelphia. Something something mental illness. This tragedy could have been prevented if that guy from Everybody Hates Chris had been armed. Also, why was ABC the only network airing the footage, and why did they show commercials advertising that it would happen at 9/8 Central? Weird.”
Pic: ABC