Saturday Mourning Cartoons

Fifteen years ago, The Boondocks changed the course of modern animation by not only featuring Black characters as the leads, but by being absolutely unapologetic in its content. That boundary-pushing show gained its own following along with a fair share of backlash, all of which is now par for the course for executive producer Carl Jones and producer Brian Ash. They've had celebrities like Oprah and Tyler Perry take issue with (and aim at) The Boondocks, just as they've had Adult Swim axe an episode before it was ever animated and HBO Max fully removing a previously aired episode from their listing. Censorship and button-pushing isn't new to Jones and Ash. Their newest animated series, Sugar and Toys, is cut from the same cloth, and the razor-sharp humor and laugh-out-loud variety sketches cut across all social, cultural, and political divides. It's first and foremost good comedy, but it's also another step in the rise of Black Animation. I had a chance to chat with Jones and Ash about Season 2 of Sugar and