Issa Rae says she was advised to always include a white character so her shows would "blow up"

The Hollywood Reporter

Rae says in an interview with Mic that the she received the advice while she was developing her web series Awkward Black Girl, which led to HBO's Insecure. Rae says she was told that inserting a white character in her Black-focused narrative would make white people “care about it” and would also earn her more media attention. “She was just like, ‘Girl, if you want this sh*t to set off to the next level, you got to put a white character in there, then white people will care about it, then NPR is going to write about your shit, and it’ll blow up,’" Rae told Mic. “And then it literally happened.” Rae says she took the advice in creating the love interest character White Jay on Awkward Black Girl.