BMF actor Da’Vinchi is catching heat after telling Cam Newton that Americans stay “incompetent for a really long time” and agreeing that people from the Caribbean, Africa and the UK think they’re better than Black Americans. The comments came in a trailer for his upcoming appearance on Newton’s Funky Friday podcast, and the clips have been spreading since Friday.
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The conversation started with convenience culture. “Humans are becoming, like, more incompetent,” Da’Vinchi said. “You got people that’s 25, 30, 35, like they can’t do their own laundry. I could take care of myself, like, fully at like eight years old. But in America, no shade to you guys, you’re just incompetent for a really long time.”
Newton pushed back. “What America’s premise is, is efficiency. If there’s an easier way to do something, that’s what it will be,” the former NFL quarterback said. Da’Vinchi did not let up. “And as collateral, the nation, the kids suffer because they become incompetent,” he replied.
Then Newton took the conversation somewhere more personal for a lot of viewers. “I’m ready for hate,” he said. “There’s a stigma those in the Caribbean, Africa, or the UK think that they are better than Black Americans.”
“I think that’s true,” Da’Vinchi said.
He also weighed in on one of the longest running debates in Black Hollywood: why Black actors from outside the United States keep landing major American roles. Da’Vinchi suggested some producers may be drawn to overseas actors because they see them as more focused on the work. It’s the same conversation Samuel L. Jackson set off years ago when he questioned British actors being cast in Black American stories.
What’s getting lost in the clips is where Da’Vinchi comes from. The Haitian American actor, born Abraham D. Juste, was born and raised in Brooklyn. He has spoken openly about growing up in poverty, relying on school lunch for meals while his mother supported the family on about $30,000 a year. When he says he could take care of himself at 8, he’s describing an American childhood.
The response came quickly. Freedmen Nation, an advocacy group for Black Americans descended from people enslaved in the United States, added BMF actor Da’Vinchi to its boycott list on Sunday. The group said the move reflects its objection to generalizations that diminish Black Americans’ talent and effort, and argued that performers should be judged on their own preparation and work, not broad comparisons between groups. The group used the moment to promote its Freedmen Actors Union, which aims to build pathways for Black American performers.
Da’Vinchi is best known for playing Terry “Southwest T” Flenory on Starz’s BMF, which was canceled last year, and Darnell Hayes on All American. He has not publicly responded to the backlash.
