Snoop Dogg had more than a few choice words regarding the remake of Roots. On Monday (May 30), the veteran rapper took to his Instagram account to announce that he would not be supporting the miniseries and advised his fans to do the same. “They just want to keep showing the abuse that we took hundreds and hundreds of years ago,” he said, voicing his frustration with the lack of content on the success of the black community today.
Read: Snoop Dogg Is Not A Fan Of The ‘Roots’ Remake
Will Packer, the producer behind the eight-hour miniseries, says he “vehemently” disagrees with the criticism the slave narrative has received.
“I think that while I certainly don’t judge Snoop at all because I’m very flawed myself, I just think the irony of having him saying and using the n-word, saying, ‘A real n-word like me wouldn’t watch this,’ I couldn’t help but think there’s a ghost of some horrendous slave owner that is smiling and smirking as he watches this black man say that and call himself that … I think that slave owner probably said, ‘Preach. I agree,'” Packer told the Tallahassee Democrat.
In spite of the backlash, Roots is the most-watched scripted miniseries premiere on cable television since 2013, attracting 5.3 million viewers during its debut.
“I don’t think we should get too comfortable as a country, as a society or as a race of people,” Packer continued. “I think this is a story that’s important enough it should be told in repeated ways.”