TV: “Black Jesus” Premieres Tonight
I’m always a little amazed at how many Christians in the U.S. don’t seem to know that Jesus was: a) Jewish; and b) not a blue-eyed white man of northern-European extraction. Those folks will probably not take kindly to “Black Jesus,” which Variety reviews thus: ‘Crossing the third rails of race and religion, “Black Jesus†is guaranteed to offend some people. In fact, one might accuse Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim of a certain naivete in greenlighting a project where the rewards, even in success, are likely to be overshadowed by the negative blowback, with various faith groups having already weighed in. That said, this live-action series from “The Boondocks’†Aaron McGruder and director Mike Clattenburg is also disarmingly and pretty consistently funny, buoyed by Gerald “Slink†Johnson’s portrayal of You Know Who. Strictly in comedy terms, the road to Hell has been paved with a lot worse shows than this.’
