Kenya Barris is getting candid about exiting a lucrative Netflix deal.

Back in 2018, Variety reported that the “Black-ish” writer and producer landed an exclusive $100 million, three-year deal, putting him in the same league as Shonda Rhimes and Ryan Murphy. This came after he parted ways with The Walt Disney Company-owned ABC months earlier. He had left ABC following a “Black-ish” episode that was shelved for touching on real-world current events such as athletes kneeling during the national anthem.

“I took a gamble because I wanted to stand for something in front of my kids, and I thought I was going to get fired and just lose my job when I left Disney because they didn’t want to air,” he said on the “Rich Roll” podcast.

With Netflix, he launched a mockumentary sitcom called “Black AF” (2020), which aired for one season. Another project was “Astronomy Club: The Sketch Show” (2019), which he executive produced, per Deadline. The series was canceled after one season. Additionally, the animated musical series “We the People” is also a part of Barris’ Netflix portfolio.

But he got an offer from ViacomCBS and BET and thought the benefit of a move outweighed the risk. On the “Rich Roll” podcast, he said David Nevins managed the Viacom-owned BET Networks and was the president of BET at the time. This was also when “Black Lives Matter was in full effect” and “Black things were now selling,” following the murder of George Floyd in 2020.

BET told him they couldn’t offer the same compensation as Netflix, but they could come close and offer ownership in a studio.

“50% ownership in a Black-owned studio. I was like ‘Wow no one’s ever had that’ … I knew I had this money and I had this place that I was going to keep making stuff. I had a hit show on, but I was like, ‘I want to do something for us’… I took the gamble. And at that same time 3 weeks later, the guy who signed me was fired,” he said on the podcast.

“Trump started like just coming in dismantling DEI. The company started being sold. I couldn’t sell for four years,” Barris added. “I could not sell anything because they could not sell internally…  I couldn’t sell stuff outside. I was lucky because I could make movies. I was lucky because I could do a podcast. I was lucky because I could do a documentary, but I couldn’t sell a TV show for four years while I was at the height of my career.”

In reflection on his move, he admits it was a gamble and is unsure if “it was a great move,” but things did turn around after those rough four years at BET.

Barris remains busy with a show streaming on Paramount called “Diarra from Detroit,” which has two seasons.

 

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