The shameless ABC reality show, What Would You Do?, which pits people against one another in front of hidden cameras, returned Tuesday night. In the quest for ratings, host John Quinones actually stoked racial tensions by hiring actors to go into public places and get into a heated argument over the Confederate flag.
Previewing the disgusting summer premiere of the program on Good Morning America earlier in the day, Quinones gushed over the potential to exploit current crises to produce a television show: “We’re living in a ‘What Would You Do?’ universe right now. It’s a time of racial reckoning, a time of a pandemic, which is forcing us to rely more and more on one another to get us through some really difficult times.”
Co-host Amy Robach touted how the upcoming episode would foster more racial division during an already divided time: “You have one scenario from the premiere that is particularly timely. You have a white man who is wearing a jacket with a confederate flag on it, a black man then asks him to take it off. A few bystanders, as they typically do on your show, chime in with their thoughts.”
After playing a clip, Robach wondered: “John, this is a debate that is happening throughout our nation right now. What surprised you most about how people reacted?” Quinones replied: “We saw right after that woman said ‘get over it,’ right next to her was an African-American woman, said, ‘Get over it? When are we going to do that? This has been going long enough. It’s been going on for long enough.’”
Moments later, Robach laughably pretended there was educational value to the televised stunts: “So what do you think we will learn from the new season?” Quinones condemned many of people caught on camera:
I think you will be inspired because tonight, and every Tuesday night, we will test people with those hidden cameras and you will see – even though there are folks who are, you know, say some god awful racist things because today more people are willing to do that than ever before. And that’s one thing I’ve noticed over the years. The last couple of years people – it’s as if they’ve been given a license to resort to their darkest, you know, impulses and say the most god awful things. But when we test them with hidden cameras, you will see the better angels in us, as Lincoln would say, who will step in and inspire us.
And what about the “dark impulse” to stir up racial division just to make money with a television show?
The actual episode aired Tuesday night and featured Quinones using actors to goad people into racially-charged arguments in a restaurant in Mississippi and a grocery store in New York. A white actor entered the public settings portraying the cartoonish character of a southerner wearing a jacket with Confederate flag imagery while a black actor pretended to confront the fake situation:
Quinones explained that the segments were filmed last year, before the pandemic or current Black Lives Matter protests.
This has been a long-term juvenile pattern for the show, trying to prove left-wing theories about how awful Americans are by contriving ridiculous scenarios made to make people look bigoted or offensive. This is literally fake news and ABC needs to stop promoting this kind of irresponsible programming.
The racially-charged segments on Tuesday’s What Would You Do? were sponsored by Xfinity and Disney+. Go here to let these advertisers know what you think about them sponsoring such content.
Here is a full transcript of Quinones discussing the show with Robach on the July 7 GMA:
8:22 AM ET
AMY ROBACH: Well now to our favorite undercover show, What Would You Do? Hosted by our good friend John Quinones talking – taking on challenging situations and bringing people together for 12 years, and now it’s back for a brand-new season. So, John, thank you so much for being with us. And I know the show feels more relevant than ever before. You use hidden cameras, you watch people in very difficult situations and some people are saying life right now is kind of like a big episode of What Would You Do?
JOHN QUINONES: That’s right, Amy. We’re living in a ‘What Would You Do?’ universe right now. It’s a time of racial reckoning, a time of a pandemic, which is forcing us to rely more and more on one another to get us through some really difficult times. And we’re all yearning, I think, for the goodness in people to shine through.
ROBACH: That’s right. You have one scenario from the premiere that is particularly timely. You have a white man who is wearing a jacket with a confederate flag on it, a black man then asks him to take it off. A few bystanders, as they typically do on your show, chime in with their thoughts. Let’s take a look.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN [GROCERY STORE CUSTOMER]: All of a sudden now everything bothers everybody.
QUINONES: As Phil gains some support –
WOMAN: Tell him to take his necklace off. That insults me.
QUINONES: Gabriel finds himself on the defensive.
GABRIEL [ACTOR]: Culturally that means something to me.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Well, I don’t think it means –
WOMAN: Fine, but look the other way. He has his rights too.
GABRIEL: But you understand the history behind that flag?
WOMAN: I do. That does not matter right now. People got to learn to just get over it already.
ROBACH: John, this is a debate that is happening throughout our nation right now. What surprised you most about how people reacted?
QUINONES: Well, by the way, I should mention that we filmed all of these before the pandemic. That’s why you won’t see anyone wearing masks or being very socially distant. But we saw right after that woman said “get over it,” right next to her was an African-American woman, said, “Get over it? When are we going to do that? This has been going long enough. It’s been going on for long enough.” We did it in two states, we did it in New York, in Brooklyn, and we did it in Mississippi. And even though in both – in Mississippi more people supported the man wearing that confederate battle flag on his jacket and in New York more people criticized him for it – in both places, what surprised me most was that folks were so willing to say, “You know what, he has every right to express his opinion.”
ROBACH: I know you have some pretty awesome guests this season, which include Sutton Foster, Adam Rippon, who is someone you’d love to see on the show as well?
QUINONES: Donald Trump. I would love for him to come on the show and talk about race. Maybe Barack Obama, Bubba Wallace perhaps, and Colin Kaepernick to talk about all these issues. I would love to have them on the show.
ROBACH: I would watch all of that, John. Alright, looking forward, what issues do you hope to address in future episodes?
QUINONES: I’d love to test children. You know, we’ve been thinking about this for awhile. We can’t put hidden cameras on children under the age of 18, of course, without their parents’ approval. But I would love to, you know, to do scenarios where we see how 5, 6, 7-year-old kids react. Because, you know, there’s a great line from that musical South Pacific, which says you have to be carefully taught to hate the people your parents hate. You have to be carefully taught. I think from the mouths of babes we could learn a lot.
ROBACH: Oh, certainly. So what do you think we will learn from the new season?
QUINONES: I think you will be inspired because tonight, and every Tuesday night, we will test people with those hidden cameras and you will see – even though there are folks who are, you know, say some god awful racist things because today more people are willing to do that than ever before. And that’s one thing I’ve noticed over the years. The last couple of years people – it’s as if they’ve been given a license to resort to their darkest, you know, impulses and say the most god awful things. But when we test them with hidden cameras, you will see the better angels in us, as Lincoln would say, who will step in and inspire us. And, boy, does it feel good.
ROBACH: I love that, John.
