For rapper-actor Method Man, this is the summer of his discontent.
The former Wu-Tang Clan member, and now costar and executive producer of the new FOX comedy series Method & Red, says he's unhappy with the network for squeezing the "ghetto" out of his new sitcom, which attracted more than 8 million viewers in its debut Wednesday.
"I'm just not happy," Method Man tells the Los Angeles Times, which describes his tone as angry.
"This is frustrating for me, and it's not turning out for me as expected," he said of the show, adding: "I'm trying to keep this show ghetto, and there's a way for it to be both ghetto and intelligent. But it's not going that way."
In the show, he and fellow rapper Redman play two hugely successful hip-hop stars who move into an affluent, predominantly white, gated suburban community. He says the series has veered from his original vision because some executives or writers tried too hard to appeal to "middle America" with "lame jokes."
"I'm no coon," he says. "I'm being criticized by people who have never set foot inside the ghetto, who have never put up a brick inside the ghetto. I'm from the ghetto. We can't all be the Cosbys.
"I know what I wanted this show to be, but there's been too much compromise on our side and not enough on their side," he says. He also adds that he was caught by surprise when he heard a laughtrack added.
"This show doesn't need it," he insists.
FOX executives declined comment to the Times.
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