Pauline Awuor Sangoro

Lena, Skillz, Queen and Slim The movie Queen and Slim has received mixed reactions amongst critics. Recently, Emmy award winner and producer of the film Lena Waithe and Rapper Skillz became the center of attention in what looked like an online tiff over the film. Thirty-five-year-old Chicago-born Lena is an actress, screenwriter and producer. She is best known for her role in Master of none and Ready player one as an actress as well as The Chi as the creator. In 2017, she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series making her the first black woman to win the award. Shaqwan Donnie Lewis aka Skillz is a forty-five-year-old American rapper best known for his 1996 album titled From Where??? Skillz, who hails from Virginia is credited for putting his hometown on the hip hop map since he was the first rapper from the state to gain national fame. He has collaborated and performed alongside artists like Pharrell Williams, Will Smith, Missy Elliott, Diddy, Chris Brown, Jay Z, and Nicki Minaj. Queen and Slim tells the story of two African American people who are caught up in a chain of events that occur as a result of a self-defense scenario gone haywire. A black man and woman who are later revealed to be Queen and Slim go on a date and later on their way to Queen’s place are accosted by a police officer. In a sudden and tragic turn of events, Slim tackles and kills the officer who fired at an unarmed Queen who was reaching for her phone. They decide to go on the run after the incident but their reputation precedes them since the video of Slim killing the officer went viral. They both end up dead when the full force of the police descends upon them taking with them a young man and another officer. The film remarkably shines light on the realities of black people in America today. In provocative fashion, Queen and Slim weaves a story around the truths of families and victims of police brutality, racism, and an unfair justice system. The movie depicts the circumstances surrounding the death of people like Eric Garner, Atatiana Jefferson, Sandra Bland, Akai Gurley, Trayvon Marin, Walter Scott, among others. The ending of the movie shows a realistic picture of how black people in America have to live in constant fear of the police who determine whether they live or not. In an interview, Lena said, “…it was very traumatizing to hear about cops being acquitted and back on the force. It's not the norm. It's not normal for us to experience this in our own country." It goes to show just how dire the situation continues to get with every passing day. Skillz appears to have been discontented with how the film fictitiously brings out the experiences of black people in society today. In an Instagram post that has since been deleted, he strongly aired his thoughts about the movie stating that, “This movie was socially irresponsible.” According to Rapper Skillz, the climate in American society should not be heated any further with a movie like Queen and Slim. He stated that the movie was not a representation of black love and unity but the harsh reality of being gunned down by a system they trust. Skillz was of the opinion that people do not need a movie to be reminded of the violence and hate perpetuated at black people. He has since recounted his sentiments and issued an apology on Instagram with a screenshot of a phone call between him and Lena which lasted more than an hour. In his apology he said that his criticism of the movie was from a point of entitlement since Lena did not depict black people the way he thought she should. He wrote, “I wanted them to show me what I wanted to see…” He acknowledged that the film had so many layers, some of which he missed. He stated that creatives have visions for their work and they must not sugarcoat anything just to make people comfortable. He said “As an artist YOUR vision is YOUR vision & sugarcoating it to make someone else feel comfortable isn’t always the case.” Rapper Skillz recognized that he was wrong and urged people to go watch the movie.