Steve Dietl/History Channel, Paras Griffin/BET/Getty Images for BET NetworksIt's safe to say Snoop Dogg isn't watching the Roots remake. The rapper took to Instgram to address the miniseries remake—and projects like 12 Years a Slave and the TV series Underground—and urged viewers to not partake in movies where black people are "dogged down."
"I'm sick of this s—t. How the f—k they going to put Roots on on Memorial Day," he said in an Instagram video. "They're going to just keep beating that s—t into our heads, how they did us, huh? I mean, I don't understand America. They're just going to want to keep showing the abuse that we took hundreds and hundreds of years ago. But guess what: We're taking the same abuse. Think about that part. When y'all going to make a motherf—king series about the success that black folks is having? The only success we have is Roots and 12 Years a Slave and s—t like that, huh? F—k y'all."
Snoop urged others to "f—k them television shows" and that it's time to create their own projects about how black people "live and how we inspire people today."
"Black is what's real," he said in the video, which contains profane language, below. "F—k that old s--t."
The original Roots miniseries made history in 1977 in terms of viewership and received 37 Emmy Award nominations. It spawned a sequel in 1979 and another in 1988. So why is now a good time to remake the project?
"It has been 40 years, loads of children know nothing about the phenomenon that [Roots] was," Anika Noni Rose, who plays Kunta's daughter Kizzy in the new series, told E! News at the remake's premiere. "They don't really know the history of the United States—and I blame the history books for that—so it's definitely time. It's such an important time for what is going on in our world now, especially for young people of color. This is very important."
The new miniseries also stars Chad L. Coleman, Laurence Fishburne, Matthew Goode, Tip "T.I." Harris, Malachi Kirby, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Anna Paquin, Mekhi Phifer, James Purefoy and Forest Whitaker. The first part debuted on Monday, May 30 and continues on History for three more nights.
"Nearly 40 years ago I had the privilege to be a part of an epic television event that started an important conversation in America," LeVar Burton, co-executive producer and star of the original series, said in a statement when History announced the premiere date. "I am incredibly proud to be a part of this new retelling and start the dialogue again, at a time when it is needed more than ever."