Kim Wayan’s Benita Butrell Is Back for Hysterical New Voting PSA: WATCH
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Kim Wayan’s character of nosy, gossiping neighbor Benita Butrell, from In Living Color, was one of the most popular bits on the comedy sketch show in its heyday and now she’s back after 27 years just in time for Election Day 2020.
“It’s me, Benita Butrell from the Hopkins Projects, at least what’s left of them. It’s a damn shame how this neighborhood has changed,” Miss Benita says. “We got less Black folks than an episode of Friends.”
“Well, with the democracy collapsing faster than a woody on fake Viagra, Miss Benita decided to get out her to try to get out the vote, because I see where this is headed,” she says.
According to The Grio the video, “was directed by brother and In Living Color castmate Shawn Wayans, Miss Benita is seen sitting outside her building with a mask on and rollers in her hair, posting a small American flag on her desk. Wayans wasted no time speaking on the gentrification that’s affected so many Black families living in such neighborhoods.”
Wayans through her character quipped about the fate of Black Americans if they don’t vote, and how life may revert back to a time when Black people faced more oppressive barriers. “And I don’t know about you, but I’m allergic to cotton.”
Miss Benita also commented on how the coronavirus pandemic had caused a food and supply shortage, and how she’d been preparing.
“I’ve been making my own astronaut food,” she joked. “I got enough freeze dried fatback and pickled black licorice to last a lifetime.”
And she ended each quip with, of course, “But I ain’t one to gossip, so you ain’t heard that from me.”
In Living Color, which was created by Keenan Ivory Wayans and was the launchpad to many successful artists’ careers like Jim Carrey, Jamie Foxx, and his siblings Shawn, Marlon, and Kim Wayans. Choreographer Rosie Perez and dancers Jennifer Lopez and Carrie Ann Inaba were also part of The Fly Girls. The series aired from April 15, 1990, to May 19, 1994.
