The writers of Atlanta have revealed that members of the cast and crew, including Donald Glover, were racially harassed while filming in London last year.
FX’s acclaimed comedy, which stars Glover, Bryan Tyree Henry, LaKeith Stanfield and Zazie Beetz, filmed its third season in England, away from its usual Georgia setting.
Speaking at a TCA press conference this week, writer and executive producer Stephen Glover recalled a racist incident that occurred during the crew’s first night in the English capital.
It began when a group of drunk people accosted the Atlanta crew outside of a bar.
“This group of people walks up,” Glover said (per Variety). “And maybe one of them kind of notices Donald or recognises him. And she stops, and they start asking if they know anywhere around here to get something to drink. I think we were talking to them for a second. It’s this girl and two or three guys.”
One of the woman’s friends then allegedly remarked that the Atlanta writers could probably break into a bar, suggesting “you guys all carry hammers” (referring to guns).
“Mind you, all of the writers on Atlanta, are Black,” Glover continued. “So, he’s making a reference that we all have hammers, and we can just break into this place, which we kind of ignored.
“It was so insulting, but not insulting at the same time because it took us five minutes to fully understand. He got to a point of like if the insinuation was lost on us, he got specific and he was like, ‘You guys are Black, you’ve gone to jail and you do things like that.’ Like, he kept doubling down on it.”
Glover said that the man then told his female friend to “run”, telling her the Atlanta crew was “going to rape you”.
“The girl was literally, like, ‘I’m sorry,’ as she’s being taken away,” added Glover. “So, it was pretty bad.”
Donald Glover added: “We are just standing there, like, ‘What just happened?’”
Atlanta season three returns to FX on 24 March in the US. In the UK, it will be available to stream on Disney Plus.
