ABC/Bob D’Amico(NEW YORK) — Yvette Nicole Brown stars as Dina Brown on ABC’s new sitcom, The Mayor. Brown, who plays the mother of a struggling hip-hop artist who accidentally becomes the town’s mayor while promoting his rap career, says she almost didn’t take the role when it was first offered to her.
“I had been kind of circling the role for awhile and had passed on it a couple of times, actually,” Brown tells ABC Radio. “I was working on another show and didn’t know what was going to happen with that.”
However, Brown says she quickly changed her mind once she realized the show’s substance.
“Then I got this script, and really read this script and I realized, “‘Oh my god, this is funny. And oh my god, this is conscious and this has heart. And this could actually change some things in our nation if we get more people involved in politics — and more people with the heart of people wanting to do good.'” Brown says. “So I thought, ‘I gotta do it.'”
The actress says in addition to being a fun comedy, The Mayor will offer timely commentary that she feels will resonate with everyone, regardless of politics.
“Anything that you would see in the news that’s happening in the world you will see… a smaller version of that on our show,” Brown says. “So if its Black Lives Matter, if it’s arts being taken out of our schools.. [it’s] going to be a part of our show.”
She continues, “We’re not going to be preachy. We’re not going to be Democrat — Republican… It’s just, either you’re doing the right thing by your constituents or you’re not.”
The Mayor premieres tonight at 9:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
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