Gary Owen, a white comedian loved by black audiences, has landed a show on BET, making him the first white lead in the network’s history.
BET announced Owen’s reality series, Gary Owen Family, this week at Upfronts. “This is the new face of the American family,” Owen said at the event. “I feel like Ben Carson at the GOP debate.” The show, according to People, “will follow the antics of his culturally blended family, as his wife is black and their children are interracial.” Specifically, it’s about the couple’s journey to renewing their vows.
Owen, who co-starred in Think Like A Man, is known for making (and getting away with) jokes about his kinship with the black community. He’s also hosted BET’s Comic View, the only white comedian to have done so.
Here he is joking pretty accurately about the length of black church services in his problematic blaccent. “Kids got baptized in a black church. Wasn’t prepared for that,” he says. “I prefer a white church. Black church just takes too long for me. You gotta have your days free. You can’t make no plans going to a black church.”
Somehow, maybe because his jokes seem to lean more appreciative than offensive, black people have embraced him and BET noticed.
