The Trailer for MTV's New Docuseries 'White People' Will Make You Cringe
MTV's new docuseries White People has one hell of a name. It's the kind of title that will prove incendiary in 2015 no matter the content. Judging from the first trailer, the show itself will prove just as controversial, if not more so.
The series features white people from across the country talking about race in America. Some of the things they say are enlightened statements on privilege. Others are fears that they'll be labeled a racist.
To MTV's credit, from the trailer, the series doesn't seem to be taking one side or another. It doesn't judge its participants for telling the truth, but it doesn't support the white woman saying she "feels like [she's] being discriminated against."
The docuseries is produced in part with, and hosted by, Jose Antonio Vargas, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. That gives the project a level of credibility that wasn't present for, say, FX's Black. White., the 2006 reality series that put families in blackface and whiteface to see how it was to live as another race.
Still, White People looks like it'll be a hard sit, if an intriguing one. Such a brazen, unflinching look at how people view race is going to turn heads and draw criticism no matter what it does. The series debuts July 22 — get ready for a lot of sticky conversations both before and after that premiere.
Watch the full trailer below.