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Thursday October 31, 2024

Leslie David Baker of ‘The Office’ falls prey to racist attacks on social media

All of Leslie David Baker's plans went downhill when he announced the project on Instagram

By Web Desk
August 17, 2020
All of Leslie David Baker's plans went downhill when he announced the project on Instagram 

American actor Leslie David Baker, known for his role on The Office, has been subjected to some gruesome comments on social media.

The star of the popular NBC sitcom began a crowdfunding campaign for a spin-off to The Office, titled Uncle Stan which would see his character of Stanley Hudson come out of retirement in Florida and start anew in Los Angeles to give assistance to his nephew in running a florist and motorcycle business.

All of his plans went downhill when he announced the project on Instagram and was welcomed by vile and racist responses from online users giving him flak for soliciting the show for money.

Speaking to USA Today regarding the entire debacle, Baker said: "We're living in an age in time where there is this movement. We would have thought that these issues would have been rectified years, decades ago. They have not. As a matter of fact, they've gotten worse."

“You cannot fight racism and combat those types of stereotypical attitudes if you pretend that they don't exist. All too often in America, people have been so concerned about being made to feel uncomfortable, because they aren't confronted by racist behavior,” he said.

He went on to explain how racist behavior still exists in society, only in different forms.

"It's not riding down the street in the hood with the burning cross, but instead it's been replaced with the new technology. We think that the old photographs that we see of people being persecuted on the way to school in the South and trying to vote in the '60s, we think that all of those people have died out.”

“They haven't died out. They got married. They had children. They had grandchildren, great grandchildren. But they took those beliefs with them, and in many cases, they have not altered those beliefs,” he added.

“Racism doesn't care whether or not you're an actor on TV or if you won awards. This is something that faces minorities on any job, not just because they're in show business,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, his Kickstarter Uncle Stan campaign has surpassed its primary goal of $300,000.