The film industry, especially as it pertains to comedy, often leans on ethnic stereotypes to sell movie tickets, and one of their latest silver screen efforts has social media-tongues wagging. Loqueesha is a comedy written by, directed by, and starring Jeremy Saville who plays a white bartender named Joe who needs to come up with cash to pay for his son's private school education. He auditions for a local Detroit radio station's talk therapy show but is rejected because he's not interesting enough. To gain an advantage, he invents Loqueesha, an over-the-top black woman who is all sass.
Joe records himself speaking as Loqueesha and the station hires her sight unseen. She becomes a radio hit and as her fame increases, Joe struggles with maintaining his true identity while hiding that he is, in fact, the man behind the woman. The premise doesn't sound that bad, but the trailer had some viewers accusing Saville of creating a 2019 version on blackface. New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow tweeted, "What in the blackface HELL is this?!!!"
One man was so angered by the premise of the movie that he tweeted, "I challenge everybody involved in making the #Loqueesha movie to a fight. Cage style. One by one. Actually, fight to the death. I am f*cking on fire. That's the only way to unleash this rage. What is this garbage." Writer Tee Franklin wrote, "So. I just found out about #Loqueesha. A white man pretending to be a Black woman—what he deems as what Black, 'ghetto' 'hood' women sound like. Time & again it shows how Black women are neglected, disrespected, and don’t matter."
At the beginning of the trailer, California's San Luis Obispo International Film Festival's "official selection" laurel stamp appears. Once they began receiving backlash for lauding the film, they issued a tweet saying they have nothing to do with the movie. "In regards to the trailer for the film 'Loqueesha', this film was never selected, screened, or given an award at our festival. The SLO Film Fest laurels were taken without permission and we are currently working to have them removed."
Meanwhile, Saville tried his best to recover from the objections by sharing a photo of himself with Marlon Wayans on Instagram. Saville captioned the photo, "With @marlonwayans, @LoqueeshaMovie meet #WhiteChicks. Have a great weekend everybody! Thanks for all you do. Keep laughing and lovin’." Wayans seemed to later reference Saville's mention by tweeting, "I hate when people tag me in their bullsh*t. It’s annoying as f*ck."
Do you find Loqueesha offensive or do you think people are being too sensitive?