"If you get fired, please don't mention be," the comedian said during the Soul Train Music Awards' pre-show.
Black pride is a great feeling, especially in 2017. There's inspiration everywhere you look, from Colin Kaepernick to tons of social pages (The Very Black Project, Black Women Are Poppin, Blacks Slaying It) that celebrate the joy of blackness.
But for comedian Deon Cole, blackness hasn't quite hit its peak. While on the carpet for The Soul Train Music Awards Sunday (Nov. 26), the Black-ish funnyman demanded us all to do one thing before the end of the year–get blacker.
"I've been screaming it from the longest, this is the year that we get blacker," he said. "I want everybody to be blacker. Start talking black at work. You ain't gotta change your voice at work anymore."
His proclamation comes after he had that chance to experience Spelhouse and Clark Atlanta's homecoming, which is pretty much one of the most blackest events ever curated. "I wanted to apologize to my black race," he said in October. "I've seen some things down here and I just realized, I'm not black enough. I've let you down but I plan on doing better, being blacker."
Cole also wants everyone to know he's not responsible for what happens at your peak of blackness. "Talk black. Be black as you can this year," he added. "If you get fired, please don't mention me."
Cole will be joining Yara Shahidi on the Black-ish spin-off Grown-ish in January. He's also the co-host of BET's hilarious game show called Face Value, where comedians help contestants guess factoids about strangers based on their appearance.