Quinta Brunson still isn’t interested in a school shooter episode of Abbott Elementary

Sitcoms aren’t reality. Despite what many landlords will tell you, one cannot simply roll a line of masking tape down the center of an apartment and declare it an autonomous living space. Unfortunately, because sitcoms are required by law to tackle real-world issues amid jokes and commercial breaks, many have called upon Abbott Elementary star and creator Quinta Brunson to write an episode about school shooters. She’s not interested.

“I don’t want to open up my show to that political
violence,” Brunson told Glamour in her Women Of The Year profile. “I consider it that at this point — even the
discourse of it is violent. And although I participate in it outside of
my show, and I’m a huge advocate for eradicating gun violence in this
country. I don’t think my show has to carry that.”

She understands those anxieties are a major
concern for teachers, but they aren’t the only concern. When she talks
to teachers,
they tell her that school shootings are “huge,” but also, so is “trying
to get through this lesson” and “trying to get the reading scores up.”

Brunson acknowledges that the “day-to-day in a workplace comedy” and the “realistic day-to-day in the classroom” are different. “There’s the one present in the classroom where teachers are just trying to get through a lesson,” Brunson said. “And then there’s the outside perspective of us engaging with teachers through the news.” This means talking about “Janine trying to change a lightbulb” instead of “Janine confronts her Blackness” or “Janine deals with this race issue” because “the issue at work is just the task at hand.” Through this, Abbott Elementary presents a political reality without leading with a political message, and it’s one of many reasons why Abbott is so damn good.