Jameela Jamil isn't the problem with HBO Max's ballroom reality show Legendary

The Daily Beast

The problem is the assumption that the ballroom reality competition needs outsiders from the ballroom scene like The Good Place actress to make it legitimate to the mainstream, says Laura Bradley. "This, perhaps more than anything, gets at the heart of the controversy surrounding Legendary," says Bradley. "Those who have been a part of ballroom culture since the beginning are certainly no strangers to the ways the mainstream can appropriate and elevate its favorite parts of a subculture while refusing to celebrate the actual people who created it. In fact, that’s a central theme of Steven Canals’ ballroom-inspired FX series Pose. At this point, there’s really no reason to launch a ballroom show in which multiple judges have no experience with the culture. Jamil herself is not the problem; the real issue is the assumption that the show needs someone like her to legitimize it in the first place." ALSO: What if Jamil is able to use her star power to bring attention to ballroom?