By Monique
I haven’t seen Avengers: Infinity War yet, so I can’t partake in all of the spoiler talks. But until I do, I can watch some of the interviews featuring the stars, and in one such interview with Variety, Chadwick Boseman breaks down the now-infamous Saturday Night Live “Black Jeopardy” potato salad joke.
In the video, Boseman tells Danai Gurira and Mark Ruffalo about the cultural origins of the joke. As he explains, in the African-American community, not just anyone can make the potato salad. Even certain family members are off limits from even thinking about making potato salad. If you’re tasked with making that ambrosia of foodstuffs, that must mean you’re one of the best cooks, if not the best cook in the family. It’s officially over for everyone else if you’re the one who brings both the stellar potato salad and the stellar pound cake. A barbecue isn’t officially a barbecue without potato salad and pound cake.
.@chadwickboseman breaks down that potato salad joke on #SNL https://t.co/xvUYDPyrth pic.twitter.com/gvs489ksEj
— Variety (@Variety) April 30, 2018
I expect Gurira to be on the outs about potato salad politics; all black people aren’t a monolith and she is an American born of Zimbabwean parents. That’s not the same as African-American, so it makes sense for her to ask what any of this means. But what I’m surprised-but-not-surprised by is how invested Ruffalo is in the conversation. Something tells me he’s heard of this potato salad debate before. As much as I’ve said we shouldn’t be inviting anyone to any cookouts unless they warrant it, I wouldn’t be shocked if Ruffalo told me he’s been to a couple in his lifetime.
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Julian 