Russell Simmons: “Good Times” was for white people. “The Jeffersons” was for black people.
Interviewed for the 2015 documentary “Norman Lear, Just Another Version of You,” Russell Simmons said:
“Good Times” was, you know, it’s cool. I mean, it was insight into a loving family. Get to like them. Get to speak like them. “Good Times” was for white people. For white people to get to know them and maybe sympathize with them. Maybe love them. Maybe see them in the street and want to talk to them. “The Jeffersons” was for black people. Aspirational, angry to some degree. The Jeffersons represented the American dream for black people.share