‘All American’ Cast Weighs in on Police Brutality Episode

The hit TV series All American is not afraid to tackle controversial topics. In the third episode of the first season, Spencer and his teammate Jordan get pulled over while driving a convertible. Jordan, who is biracial, talks back to the officer since he believes they were pulled over for no reason. The two are then detained, and the scene turned out to be very pivotal in the series.

The cast of All American took a look back at the scene for TV Guide’s 100 Best shows ranking. “This particular scene, I thought was genius,” said Bre-Z, who plays Coop. “I thought it was absolutely necessary. It’s very common for bi-racial kids to not know what space in terms of race do they dwell in. To make such a direct statement about being a Black man in America, it had to happen because so much of this is going on every single day. There’s so many kids that look like Jordan Baker that think they are exempt from this type of treatment and they’re not.”

“I can relate to Jordan in a sense of growing up in a cushy bubble,” Michael Evans Behling said who plays Jordan. “Not having to deal with the police as much as other people here. Spencer was prepared and put his hands up. It showed that Jordan was totally in dark on what it’s like to actually be a Black man in America.”

Daniel Ezra, who plays Spencer on the show, revealed what the episode meant to him. The kind of buzzy thing is the police stuff, but I think the conversation is so important because Billy genuinely thought that his fame and living in Beverly Hills and the fact that his kids were biracial, he thought that he could escape the issues of being Black in America,” he said. “And I think him realizing that he couldn’t, and him realizing that this is something he’s going to have to address as a father, for me that’s the most vital moment of the episode.”

All American began airing in 2018 on the CW. There have been two seasons so far with a third season on the way. The series is inspired by the life of Spencer Paysinger, a former NFL player who was a was standout athlete at Beverly Hills High School. He played college football at Oregon where he was a team captain his senior year.