Why 'Black-ish' Star Anthony Anderson Says He’s ‘Banned’ From the White House
The actor really wants President Obama to appear on the hit ABC show.
— -- "Black-ish" star Anthony Anderson is keeping it no secret that he really wants President Obama and the first lady to appear on the hit ABC show because he’s heard they’re huge fans, and the cast is actively petitioning to get POTUS on board.
There’s just one minor problem.
“They haven’t returned any of the petitions, or the calls, or the letters or the emails,” Anderson said on “Good Morning America” today. “I think I’m banned from going to Washington D.C., now. Not just the White House. They’re keeping me out of the District of Columbia.”
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Anderson, 45, also explained that the show will tackle many controversial topics this upcoming season right out of the gate, addressing the “N” word in the very first episode.
“We took it on,” he explained. “We really wanted to do it last year but because we were a new show and that was basically low-hanging fruit, we pushed it back to our first episode this year. We pride ourselves on having topics that are divisive and create a dialogue. And it’s OK to laugh. It’s better to feed someone some information with a teaspoon of sugar than with a teaspoon of salt.”
In their ever-comedic and entertaining way of addressing these controversial issues, however, Anderson says there are two other hotly debated subjects they’ll be delving into within the first three episodes.
“We’re going to follow that up with my character, Dre, wanting to buy a hand gun, something else that’s polarizing in our society and in America today,” he said. “And health in the black community. So those are our first three shows that are right out the gate.”
But it wasn’t all serious business for the comedic actor during his time at “GMA.” He also played a funny game talking “Smack-ish” on his current and former co-stars including Tracee Ellis Ross and Leonardo DiCaprio.
“Black-ish” season two premieres Wednesday night at 9:30 p.m. on ABC.