Work It is an ABC sitcom about two out of work men who decide to disguise themselves as women in order to secure jobs at a drug company. Work It has been universally panned. It sucks. No one likes it. It should go away.
Puerto Rican groups have recently been up in arms about this:
Did you catch the offensive part? Where the character played by Puerto Rican actor Amaury Nolasco says that he’d be great at selling drugs because he’s Puerto Rican? It’s caused an uproar, with New York City councilman Jose Rivera issuing a statement, Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi doing the same, petitions, calls for ABC to apologize, etc. etc. etc.
Not only will this show not be renewed because no one likes it at all, there is so much else wrong with it – just ask a friend in the LGBTQ community what they think of the show’s premise and gender jokes; ask women how they feel about the idea that women have an easier time in the job market – that complaining exclusively about this line is like picking on the comma usage in one of Ron Paul’s old newsletters. I wish this effort hadn’t been so myopic – the stance that this was just another offensive trope in a TV show that is a carnival of offensive tropes may have been the better stance to take. After all, the fight for positive, normalized representation is one shared by all underrepresented groups, and for Puerto Rican leaders to not show solidarity with the people already complaining is shortsighted and alienating.
Still, we dig Latino Rebels’ ideas for how Amaury Nolasco should handle things.
So what do you think? Is this offensive, or is the whole thing overblown?