Quinta Brunson’s character Janine Teagues might be the heart of Abbott Elementary, but according to Brunson herself, not everyone’s a fan—especially some viewers within the Black community.
During a recent chat on Amy Poehler’s Good Hang With Amy podcast, Brunson opened up about the mixed reactions to her quirky, overly optimistic second-grade teacher—particularly from other Black women.
“I’ll be real with you: She’s a Black character,” Brunson said. “Black audiences have so few representative characters on screen, and Black womanhood alone is so touchy. So when a lot of women saw Janine not showing up the way they wanted her to, that became tough—and I get it.”
Brunson isn’t alone in that experience. Fellow creator Issa Rae has recently faced renewed criticism about the characters in One of Them Days, a comedy she produced that’s now streaming. The scrutiny Black creators face over how Black characters are portrayed is, unfortunately, nothing new.
Brunson explained that one of her goals has been to create characters that feel real—whether or not the audience agrees with them. But when it came to Janine, that turned out to be harder than expected.
“I’ve been trying to make shows that don’t care what the audience thinks,” she told Poehler. “But that was a challenge with Janine.”
Still, she stands by her creative choices. Brunson says she understands the critiques but believes it’s crucial to move away from narrow, stereotypical portrayals of Black characters in Hollywood. The key, she says, is authenticity over perfection.
“I think it’s important for us to have characters who are more realistic than they are the absolute best representation of us,” Brunson said. “It creates layers—not just on TV, but in the public eye. When I was writing Janine, I wasn’t thinking about her being representative, but that’s what she became.”
Abbott Elementary is currently in its fourth season, airing Wednesdays on ABC and streaming the next day on Hulu.
