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Creator and star of the smash hit school-set ABC sitcom Abbott Elementary Quinta Brunson has amassed no small share of dedicated fans of her show.
But one piece of feedback she regularly hears from the show's dedicated fanbase has proven deeply unsettling. Brunson says an alarming number of people have asked her to make a school shooting episode of her show.
Brunson addressed the issue in the wake of Tuesday's elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas in a tweet in which she also urged people to make demands of their legislators about gun violence instead.
See her tweet thread below.
wild how many people have asked for a school shooting episode of the show I write. people are that deeply removed from demanding more from the politicians they've elected and are instead demanding "entertainment." I can't ask "are yall ok" anymore because the answer is "no."
— quinta brunson (@quintabrunson) May 25, 2022
Brunson wrote:
"wild how many people have asked for a school shooting episode of the show I write."
Brunson went on to decry the lack of engagement with politics that these demands seem to signify.
"people are that deeply removed from demanding more from the politicians they've elected and are instead demanding 'entertainment'."
"I can't ask 'are yall ok' anymore because the answer is 'no'."
Brunson then urged fans to prevail on their elected officials to "get on Beto time"—a reference to Democratic Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke's now-viral response to Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott's inaction on the gun violence.
please use that energy to ask your elected official to get on Beto time and nothing less. I'm begging you.
— quinta brunson (@quintabrunson) May 25, 2022
Brunson also lamented the impact the non-stop gun violence in America seems to be having on society, saying in a follow-up tweet "this country is rotting our brains."
Part of what makes Brunson's show unique—and what has won it praise from critics and fans alike—is the madcap comedy also takes an unflinching look at the seemingly insurmountable problems faced by American public schools.
Storylines have centered on lack of funding, students' problems at home, and in one particularly memorable and all-too-real episode, teachers striving to go viral on TikTok to win money for basic school supplies most public school systems cannot cover.
But most would agree that schoolchildren being massacred at school is about the last issue on which a sitcom should be based.
The demand for such a show seems particularly dark in light of the tragedy in Uvalde, the deadliest school shooting since the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre that for many stands as a chilling point-of-no-return in America's ongoing gun violence problem.
On Twitter, many people shared Brunson's unease with the notion of a school shooting episode of a sitcom.
the fact that even one person asked for this…
— king crissle (@crissles) May 25, 2022
This need to factionalize the real horrors bc nobody has stopped them in real life, so maybe “entertainment” can provide the desired outcome…
Yeah, no. Not okay.
This detachment from reality after lack of relief…
The trauma, the trauma.
Get well soon, y’all.
💔 https://t.co/tyMoE4oaAl
— Dr. Dee Knight (@DrDeeKnight) May 25, 2022
Yikes. I’d rather an episode centered around this parachute. Are they still a thing? pic.twitter.com/emaOr1BKWm
— Stephen B (@ThatStephenB) May 25, 2022
They’re asking the wrong Abbott to do something
— Kar (@karlogan_) May 25, 2022
I don’t want to think of fictional schools having a shooting the same way I don’t want to think of real schools having a shooting. It shouldn’t be normalized.
— Jennifer B (@random_girl_mom) May 25, 2022
I am a teacher. I love your show.
Please, please don't do a school shooting episode.
— Beth Crawford (@bethcteach) May 25, 2022
& it’s ONLY black shows that they demand this from. Black creators aren’t responsible for highlighting social injustice issues. Trust , our black assess know. Demand this from your politicians
— Negus = ROYALTY (@stillneguss) May 26, 2022
i have to add this is specifically disturbing because the kids acting on the show are so little the line between playing pretend and actually being at school is so thin for them that forcing this kind of storyline on a group of primarily black and brown babies can do real damage https://t.co/JzZTRnyO5V
— َ (@ungodlywests) May 26, 2022
i have to add this is specifically disturbing because the kids acting on the show are so little the line between playing pretend and actually being at school is so thin for them that forcing this kind of storyline on a group of primarily black and brown babies can do real damage https://t.co/JzZTRnyO5V
— َ (@ungodlywests) May 26, 2022
After steeping in the reality of school shootings for more than 20 years now, it's probably safe to assume a sitcom addressing it is not what we need.