A Word: A Black Nerd Star Rises in Hollywood

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4 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 7 May 2021

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson is joined by Emmy-nominated actor William Jackson Harper. Fans might know him as indecisive professor Chidi from The Good Place. But he’s back on screens this spring in Barry Jenkins’ The Underground Railroad. The series is based on the Pulitzer prize-winning novel from Colson Whitehead. Harper talks about the upcoming Amazon Prime series, playing Chidi on The Good Place, and his role as a rom-com star in We Broke Up. Guest: William Jackson Harper, Emmy-nominated actor. Podcast production by Ahyiana Angel and Jasmine Ellis You can skip all the ads in A Word by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/awordplus for just $1 for your first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is a word, a podcast from Slate. I'm your host, Jason Johnson.
0:09.6	Amy nominated the actor William Jackson Harper rose to fame on the good place, playing
0:14.9	everyone's favorite philosophy professor, Cheety.
0:17.9	Alright, nerd. Want to learn something or teach you something? I'm going to teach you
0:22.9	the meaning of life. How you like them apples?
0:25.6	Now, with a breakout role in Amazon's The Underground Railroad, William Jackson Harper
0:29.6	tells us about making it in Hollywood and what it's like to be a black, nerd icon.
0:35.0	That's next on a word with me, Jason Johnson. Stay with us.
0:44.4	Welcome to a word, a podcast about race and politics and everything else. I'm your host,
0:49.4	Jason Johnson.
0:51.2	The upcoming Amazon series, The Underground Railroad, brings to life the Pulitzer Prize-winning
0:55.9	novel from Colson Whitehead. The result is an unflinching look at how slavery robbed
1:02.0	black people of humanity, dignity, and how enslaved people fought to take it back.
1:07.9	One of the breakout stars of the series is William Jackson Harper. Fans who know him as
1:12.0	the terminally indecisive professor Cheety on the good place may be surprised by his new
1:17.1	role as royal, a man dedicated to freeing his people by any means necessary.
1:23.2	William Jackson Harper joins us now. Welcome to a word.
1:26.2	Hey, man. Thanks so much for having me.
1:28.2	We'll just start off at the beginning. I've seen a lot of Underground Railroad where you
1:33.5	play the character named Royal. We're going to play a short clip and I kind of want to
1:37.1	talk to you about who he is after listening to this.
1:40.1	Since when is living and breathing until the land, what is rightfully yours, arrogance?
	...

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