Return of the King (The Boondocks)

"Return of the King (The Boondocks)"

"Return of the King" was the controversial 9th episode of The Boondocks, which debuted on Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday, January 15, 2006, on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. The episode depicts a hypothetical scenario (alternative history) in which Martin Luther King, Jr. (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson) survives his assassination at the Lorraine Motel on April 4, 1968. In the episode, King goes into a 32-year long coma. King awakens to find himself alienated with modern black culture and his steady, sincere demeanor made awkward by modern forms of mass media. His popularity diminishes significantly due to his controversial opinions after 9/11.

Plot

The episode begins with two quotes:

I want young men and young women who are not alive today...

to know and see that these new privileges and opportunities did not come

without somebody suffering and sacrificing for them.

-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Whatever, nigga

-Anonymous

Huey Freeman then narrates an alternate history describing Martin Luther King's attempted assassination that puts him in a coma. As a result of his survival, the 1968 riots and the declaration of Martin Luther King Day do not occur. A significantly aged King awakens in a hospital bed on October 27, 2000, 32 years after getting shot. He shows up to vote in the 2000 U.S. presidential election, but was "turned away due to voting irregularity". While wandering a city street he is almost hit by a stray gunshot, "learn[ing] that streets named after him were not always the safest". He soon experiences a resurgence of popularity, obtaining a book deal and giving the rights to a biopic of his life directed by Oliver Stone (which enraged Spike Lee) and starring Cuba Gooding, Jr. But the movie is released after the September 11, 2001 attacks, making it a flop. King soon after appears on Politically Incorrect, stating that his Christian faith teaches him to "turn the other cheek" regarding enemies such as Al-Qaeda. His commentary receives severe scorn from the White House Press Secretary, CNN and Time Magazine, and causes his popularity to plummet (mimicking the scrutiny of King by the government and media in the 1960s for his criticisms of the Vietnam War)

At his vacant book signing, King meets Huey and Robert Freeman, the latter of whom he is acquainted with from the Civil Rights era (it is later revealed in the episode that Robert Freeman participated in the Montgomery Bus Boycott with Rosa Parks, but was completely ignored). Learning that he is staying in a Holiday Inn Express ("I feel smarter already"), the Freemans invite Dr. King to dinner and to sleep at their house. Later that night, Huey and King, while watching television, express their disgust with the state of black popular culture. The next day, Huey persuades and motivates King to try to reach out to the public again. King is further disgusted to find the likeness of himself (as well as Gandhi and Albert Einstein) in an iPod advertisement at an Apple Store, and the likeness of himself on a food tray paper at the fast food restaurant McWuncler's (a parody of McDonald's owned by Ed Wuncler). Huey convinces him that the two of them should start a political party, although King is insistent that he get Oprah to do so instead. King appears on a television show and finds himself unable to express his opinions due to the fast-paced, and interrupting style of the right-wing host(a parody of Bill O'Reilly), causing Huey to throw a chair at the host and beat him in frustration. They instead decide to spread their message the old-fashioned way: through flyers and door-to-door solicitation.

The goal of their party is further disrupted when King hires an "urban promotions firm" to advertise the party's planning meeting, which advertises it on an FM radio pop music station. This causes dozens of young black people to arrive at the church in which the meeting is being held, believing it to be a "party" in the sense of a festivity. Huey and King arrive to find the church inexplicably guarded by a bouncer, who insists on a bribe, and arrive to find that the church is filled with revelers, and that the podium has been taken over by a series of rappers, televangelists, and other superficial black pop culture icons. King, who's at first patronizing, finally becomes impassioned, approaches the podium, and after failed attempts to get the audience's attention, proclaims, "Will you ignorant niggas please shut the hell up?!"

King then goes on to ask "is this what I got all those ass-whoopings for?", and continues to repeatedly refer to the audience as "niggas", (most likely not as an expression of racial prejudice, but out of frustration that the current generation of black people has willfully assumed the racial stereotype of black people) and gives a tirade about elements of black popular culture such as Black Entertainment Television, Usher, and Soul Plane. King concludes his speech by saying "I've seen what's around the corner, I've seen what's over the horizon, and I promise you, you niggas have nothing to celebrate, and no, I won't get there with you, I'm going to Canada" (alluding to the sentiment among some in the American Left after the 2004 presidential election that Canada was more desirable than America).

King then thanks Huey, and tells him to "do what you can", before leaving. Media exposure of his speech causes black citizens to become angry with their situation, creating an uprising similar to that of the 1960s. The episode concludes with a mob of enraged, young black men and women screaming at the gates of the White House, cursing an unnamed presidential administration. Several news channels report that all black members of the NBA are sitting the season out until "troops are withdrawn", and that Robert L. Johnson issued a public apology for founding BET. Finally, a front page of a newspaper from 2020 informing the viewer that Oprah has been elected president (an allusion to earlier in the episode) and that King died at the age of 91 in Vancouver. Huey concludes the episode, saying "It's fun to dream."

It is currently unknown whether or not this episode is officially within the series's canon.

Criticism

The episode received criticism from Al Sharpton for the depiction of Martin Luther King Jr., specifically his use of the epithet "nigger". He demanded an apology from Aaron McGruder and Cartoon Network, stating "Cartoon Network must apologize and also commit to pulling episodes that desecrate black historic figures. We are totally offended by the continuous use of the n-word in McGruder's show."

Cartoon Network replied by releasing a statement saying "We think Aaron McGruder came up with a thought-provoking way of not only showing Dr. King's bravery but also of reminding us of what he stood and fought for, and why even today, it is important for all of us to remember that and to continue to take action." McGruder himself responded to Sharpton's criticism in The Boondocks comic strip, by having the characters ridicule Sharpton's choice to attack a cartoon over other, possibly more relevant issues, but intentionally having them not mention the name of the cartoon. The incident was also referenced on the show, in the episode "The Block is Hot." While Huey listens to an internet radio station, the broadcaster mentions that Al Sharpton is in the media again, this time complaining about a "cartoon", again, not mentioning the name of the cartoon. This was likely a last minute addition, as that episode first aired less than two months following the incident.

Trivia

• The episode's name is a take on the movie The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
• The episode won a 2007 Peabody Award; it is the first Cartoon Network program to win a Peabody.
• Dr. King's climatic speech at the end of the episode is from the lyrics of Asheru's (who also provides the Boondocks theme) song "Nigga's".
• A running gag from the Boondocks strip (where Huey angrily attacks Usher and Justin Timberlake for copying Michael Jackson by screaming Michael Jackson is a musician, not a genre of music) is featured in this episode.
• Dr. King mentions that he tried to download some of Mahalia Jackson's music from iTunes but forgot his password.
• This episode began the running gag of Robert dragging Riley off-camera and belting or spanking him ("whooping his ass") whenever he becomes overly disrespectful.
• When Dr. King is berated on television, after the host yells at him "Do you love America?", the last thing he says before Huey hits him is "fair and balanced coverage..." This is a reference to the FOX NEWS channel, one of whose mottoes is in fact "fair and balanced".
• This episode displays a slight error. The part where it flashes forward to the year 2000, there is a shop with an HDTV.

This is inaccurate because HDTV wasn't introduced until a few years later.

• Grand Dad's partners in the Rosa Parks bus sit-in is reminiscent of a Chris Rock act in Bigger And Blacker.