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Issa Rae Has a Great Idea for an All-Black Gossip Girl

10/10 would watch.


Issa Rae
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The 10th anniversary of Gossip Girl has us all living a simpler past where fashionable headbands reigned supreme and the biggest villain to come out of Manhattan was Chuck Bass. But instead of harping upon the very fashionable past, why not look into a more diverse future?

Issa Rae, the creator and star of HBO’s breakout comedy Insecure, is doing just that. She’d like nothing more than to see a Gossip Girl-type show aimed at a young black audience, pitching her idea to The New Yorker in a new video in connection with the magazine’s Television Issue. Predictably, the idea she has in mind is nothing short of fantastic.

“I would like to pitch you a new show about black teenagers. Think 90201 or Gossip Girl for black kids,” she explained in her video. “Maybe we call it Ladera Heights 90041. It could be Potomac, Maryland 20854.” She even has a few characters in mind—and boring archetypes need not apply. “My main character would be Lil’ Richie. He’s, you know, a young black rich teen. He’s tired of the access, and the excess,” Issa continued. “I’m Lil’ Richie, I’m so tired of being rich, there’s more to me than this. I just created a song. That’s the theme song. I would definitely have a ho character. Just thirsty. No goodie-goodies over here. Not in this show. Nobody was watching 90210 for Tori Spelling.”

But most importantly, Rae says the sheer lack of teen and young-adult programming aimed at a black audience is what’s encouraging her to pursue her pitch. “I don’t think since, I would say, Moesha have we followed the lives of black teens,” she concluded. “So, like, where’s our Gossip Girl? This Gossip Girl is black, bitch….That’s the tagline!”

Form an orderly queue, television executives.

Related: Meet Kari Faux, the 24-Year-Old Rapper Tapped by Donald Glover and Issa Rae

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Issa Rae arrives at the 2016 Ebony Power 100 Gala at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on December 1, 2016, in Beverly Hills, California.

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Issa Rae attends The Hollywood Reporter’s Annual Women in Entertainment Breakfast in Los Angeles at Milk Studios on December 7, 2016, in Hollywood, California.

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Issa Rae at Essence Black Women in Hollywood Awards at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel on February 23, 2017, in Beverly Hills, California.

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Issa Rae attends the 2017 MTV Movie and TV Awards at the Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017, in Los Angeles, California.

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Issa Rae attends the 2017 Film Independent Spirit Awards sponsored by American Airlines at the Santa Monica Pier on February 25, 2017, in Santa Monica, California.

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Issa Rae attends BET Presents the American Black Film Festival Honors on February 17, 2017, in Beverly Hills, California.

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Issa Rae attends the 20th Anniversary Celebration of HBO x ABFF at the Betsy Hotel on June 17, 2017, in Miami, Florida.

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Issa Rae attends the 2017 ESPYS at Microsoft Theater on July 12, 2017, in Los Angeles, California.

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Honoree Issa Rae attends Black Girls Rock! 2017 at NJPAC on August 5, 2017, in Newark, New Jersey.

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Issa Rae attends the Refinery29 Third Annual 29Rooms: Turn It Into Art event on September 7, 2017, in Brooklyn.

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Issa Rae arrives at the 69th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on September 17, 2017, in Los Angeles, California.

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Issa Rae attends the Wine Down With Issa Rae event at Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel on November 18, 2017, in Hollywood, California.

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