Kenya Barris’ Netflix show #blackAF has been criticized by many fans and critics alike since the project was first announced. Barris has heard the complaints and had something to say on T.I.’s podcast expediTIously.

In the podcast, Barris admits the show is “super polarizing” and says he’s “never done anything like this.”

“People have called me and said ‘This is my favorite show’ [and] people have called me and said ‘I hate this,'” he said.

When referring to fans’ assertions that the series is colorist, Barris said according to The Grio, “The one thing that I’ll say in terms of the colorism [is] this [show] is based on my family” with Rashida Jones ‘playing a version of my wife, who is biracial.”

“I think everyone’s experience and everyone’s opinion in terms of, you, colorism are real, and I understand that,” he said. “But if you just dug a little bit under the surface, you’d understand that this is biographical…and I was trying to duplicate a version of what my family was.”

Even while defending his choice of actors to portray his family, he did say that he’s also glad the show has sparked a conversation about colorism since it “speaks to the idea that there is so much colorism in the world and it shows how important this is to people.”

“I take opinions good with the bad because if you’re going to listen to any of them, you’ve got to listen to all of them,” he said. “I want to be dope…I may not be dope to everybody but I want the people I that I respect and the community that I’m reaching out to, I want them to actually like or dislike my work and be able to critically talk about that,” he said.

You can watch the full interview below:

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Photo credit: Netflix