What Would You Do? is back for a new season on ABC and its episode couldn't be more timely
In the Tuesday, July 7 premiere, the ABC series includes a scenario with a man wearing a Confederate flag on his jacket. A Black customer sees the jacket and politely asks the man to remove the jacket, telling him he finds the symbol offensive. The white man refuses to remove the jacket, saying he has the right to wear what he wants. What Would You Do? does the scenario twice, testing what other diners will do in Mississippi and in New York.
This comes on the heels of Mississippi lawmakers voting to remove the Confederate symbol from the state flag in the wake of marches in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the death of George Floyd.
"Our What Would You Do? scenario on the Confederate battle flag is incredibly timely given this week's decision by the state of Mississippi to remove that divisive emblem from its official state flag, a quick and decisive response to the ongoing racial reckonings we're witnessing around the country," series host John Quiñones told E! News. "We filmed the scenario in both NYC and in Mississippi. And, what surprised us was that in both states, people tried very hard to understand both our actor's right to wear the Confederate battle flag and yet, they also felt the pain of our Black actor who was offended by the symbol. They seemed very torn and that, perhaps, is a sign of the times in today's America."
Other scenarios in the July 7 episode test bystanders with a man experiencing homelessness buying coffee in a shop, getting offered free food by the cashier and the cashier then being berated by the manager, two young men discussing how to get back at an ex by leaking risqué photos in an act of revenge porn, and a mother and child shopping duo with the child, in a superhero costume, asking strangers to help him fight evil. What will the other shoppers do when the mother asks him to stop and act "normal"?
What Would You Do?, now in its 12th year, uses hidden cameras to look at how people behave when they think no one is watching. The new season includes Sutton Foster, Adam Rippon, WWE wrestler Nia Jax and GMA3: Strahan, Sara & Keke co-host Sara Haines.
The new season begins Tuesday, July 7 at 10 p.m. on ABC.