On Jan. 18, it was announced that the HBO Max comedy series “Rap Sh!t” would not return for a third season.

With over 70,000 followers on their Instagram page alone, the show “Rap Sh!t” had a large social media following. For Mumblings, Musings and Mullings newsletter founder Engweri Cox, she has been a fan of the show since day one.

“Mia and Shawna were two working class Black women from the hood. “Rap Sh!t” didn’t sugarcoat their struggles but also didn’t revel in them either and also made sure that our characters got to have fun, fall in love, have complex emotions and more that you usually don’t see for Black women in TV,” Cox said.

For poet and Ph.D. candidate Angel Dye, watching “Rap Sh!t” was a family event.

“My god sister and I would make a whole event of it and sync up our TVs to watch it together while on FaceTime so we could see each other’s real-time reactions. What I loved most about the series was that it told a familiar and recognizable story,” Dye said.

The show’s creator and co-executive producer, actress Issa Rae, told the publication Variety in a statement that she was “so proud of and grateful for Syreeta (the program’s showrunner), our cast, writers and crew that made this show possible … Thanks to Sarah Aubrey and Suzanna Makkos for championing the show, and much love to the fans that tuned in weekly to root for our girls.”

Social media was outraged with the show’s cancellation, stating that it was another example of networks eliminating programs that spotlight BIPOC experiences.

“The lifespan of good Black TV shows is TOO DAMN SHORT. Like forget celebrating five seasons or more. Now, we’re lucky if we get a season two. And you wonder why these ‘Best TV Shows of All Time’ lists are predominantly YT shows. We don’t even get a chance at longevity or syndication,” Los Angeles entertainment and features writer Shanelle Genai said in a X post on Jan. 18.

Despite Hollywood stating that they would work to prioritize diversity and inclusion efforts, BIPOC individuals, especially those in entertainment, feel that the industry is taking away the shows that promote true DEI in the first place.

Why tokenism won’t fix Hollywood’s diversity problem

Viewers of color seek out content that mirrors their experiences and has a “relatively diverse group of writers,” according to UCLA’s 2023 Hollywood Diversity Report, Part Two: Television. However, this type of diverse content has been getting canceled after a few seasons maximum.

In the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, Hollywood responded by attempting to push diversity efforts across the industry, from casting to who is in leadership. However, a fear of their bottom line being impacted due to low-performing movies or shows has led some executives, agents and others powerful Hollywood figures to stop the push for diversity and inclusivity, according to a 2022 article from the Human Resources Director.

For example, “Gay romantic comedy ‘Bros’ and Filipino-centric ‘Easter Sunday’ both bombed at the box office, and ‘Ms. Marvel,’ a Disney+ series about a teenage Muslim superhero, performed below expectations, according to the Nielsen ratings,” they reported.

In 2023, shows including “Ziwe,” “South Side,” “With Love,” and “The Wonder Years,” were taken off the air despite Hollywood’s DEI push after on average two seasons.

There has also been the attempted elimination of programs that help give BIPOC individuals a chance to be able to break into Hollywood, like the Warner Bros. Television Workshop that was only kept after those in the industry spoke out against the decision.

According to Genai, there was a strong push for diverse stories and DEI programs in 2020. However, the last few years have been a different story.

“It’s almost as if they made certain promises to appease people and quell the outcry and now they’re going back on everything. I won’t say that all their intentions were bad, but it’s often impact over intent,” Genai said.

There have been some programs since 2020 that have tried to address the race and inclusivity issues that Hollywood has had in the past.

Nevertheless, Dye worries that “if we cannot even have sustained offerings of content made about Black folks’ enjoyment and uplift, we can’t be confident that any of these other DEI pushes will have longevity either.”

A 2021 study by MicKinsey and Company focused on the obstacles that specifically Black talent goes through in Hollywood. These struggles included being “‘forced to sell stories about personal trauma to get ideas optioned’ and white executives’ stereotypical assumptions about target audiences being ‘valued more than lived experiences of creators,’” a 2021 New York Times article reported.

Due to little to no representation on executive boards or even leaving on their own accord, Black creatives become responsible for bringing others like them onto the scene and have even less room to make a mistake, the article also stated.

Jeanell English, who stepped down as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ EVP of impact and inclusion in June 2023, told the publication TheWrap in July 2023 that “we need to be at a point where we are operationalizing inclusion, and that comes with creating real responsibility for this work in all levels of the organization in all positions in some capacity.”

The marketing bias facing BIPOC-led shows

One of the reasons why BIPOC-led shows get canceled early according to Cox is the difference in marketing that these programs receive.

“I think many BIPOC shows get under-marketed, especially to other BIPOC who would probably enjoy the show … I think as well it’s important that minority led shows have an extra push in marketing because many white people tend to skip over any content that doesn’t automatically reflect them,” Cox said.

There is also a lack of diversity in the rooms of high-level decision-makers, screenwriter Ariel Relaford said.

“If the room is indeed an echo chamber, people are going to go with the shows they watch and like and what represents them, as opposed to the ‘other’ shows on the roster. It’s probably easier to cut a show you have no real personal interest in or connection to,” Relaford said.

Others state that BIPOC individuals need to come together in order to support their programs. However, Dye states that they do, as seen with people mourning “Rap Sh!t’s” cancellation on social media as soon as the news dropped.

“We even create our own streaming platforms and networks with Black content (BET+, Allblk, etc). But if there is still a power structure in the entertainment industry that gets the final say in what reaches us and for how long, what is the solution then? Can we dismantle white supremacy with our FireSticks and Roku remotes,” Dye said.

White-led programs receive different treatment

As X user Mel Smith posted on Jan. 18, there is a “danger of white audiences not being required to find enjoyment in stories that don’t center them.”

Compared to shows created by BIPOC individuals or women, UCLA’s 2023 Hollywood Diversity report found that “white male creators were supported with bigger budgets: About half received more than $3 million per episode regardless of platform and around 2% received more than $20 million in digital and cable.”

There is a difference in how white-led shows are treated compared to those with a BIPOC-led cast, Genai said.

“They get more of an investment from studios, resources, marketing, budget, etc. from jump. And even if the first or second season takes a while to grow on folks, they’re more likely to get the space to grow on their audience and evolve. Whereas BIPOC shows often don’t get that chance,” Genai said.

About 97% of the most viewed shows that month featured a white lead compared to 53% featuring a Black lead, according to a 2021 survey by Samba TV. Shows featuring a Hispanic or Asian lead came in even lower at 14% and 11% respectively.

With white people gravitating towards the content that reflects their own experiences, findings will state that these are the shows that are doing the best.

“When the hard data shows that white led shows are allegedly performing better of course studios will pump most of their resources into those ones. It’s a toxic cycle that’s hard for creatives to thrive in,” Cox said.

Reimagining Hollywood’s power dynamics for true equity

When it comes to addressing the deep-rooted issues in Hollywood when it comes to diversity and inclusion, Cox says there is a need for a systematic change sooner rather than later.

“I don’t think seven gigantic studios should be in charge of most of the entertainment we get. A dismantling of the studio systems and a hard anti-capitalist stance would create more diversity and equity than another diversity program while white creatives get ten times the resources and opportunities,” Cox said.

Nevertheless, Relaford says that Hollywood is slowly but surely changing.

“It’s just going to take time. The doors have begun to open more and more for diverse storytellers through different initiatives and non-profit programs. It’s just going to take a while for us to get to the higher levels of where we can have a more pronounced impact on what programs are created and kept alive,” Relaford said.