True-confession time: I’ve been an avid viewer of Girls since it was called Tiny Furniture. I mean, technically, Tiny Furniture was my first introduction to Lena Dunham, and though not exactly like Girls, it was close enough. Sure, the series lacked people of color and centered on a bunch of white millennials, but I don’t judge those who watched Sex and the City all those years, so don’t judge me.
For the last several years, Girls was my Sunday go-to on HBO. I’m pretty sure I can identify Dunham’s body parts in a lineup by now. And when the series finale aired, I was excited to see how it would all end, especially with Hannah being pregnant by some random Pakistani surfing instructor, Paul-Louis, played by Riz Ahmed.
So here I am, watching Girls, and the series time-lapsed from the previous episode to her already having given birth. Then this little black baby pops on the screen.
“Whose baby is this?” I asked myself. I first assumed the scene was just her taking a parenting class and practicing how to change a diaper or something. But then I realized the little black baby was hers.
Over at Fusion, Isha Aran wrote about “Grover” and the fact that he did not look half Pakistani, half white. Everyone on social who watched the episode was just like me: “Who is this black baby?”
Well, apparently, little Grover is not black. And his mother is upset that he’s being considered black. And, no, little Grover is not half Pakistani or half white.
Little Grover is Puerto Rican and Haitian. Now, where I’m from in New Jersey, when we would hear that combo, we’d joke and be like, “Oh, he’s Dominican, then?” But we weren’t the most PC kids growing up.
It seems as though Jaclyn Nichole is quite offended that people consider her babies (Grover is a twin) black. I mean, God forbid!
Or maybe Little Grover’s mother doesn’t actually realize that there are black Puerto Ricans and that Haitians are black.
I actually joked about the baby with my friend Rick Younger, who appeared on the show as the black cop. We both said that the real plot twist is that his character is actually the father of Little Grover, and not Paul-Louis.
But, yes, please stop referring to Little Grover as black. His mother says he’s not. Also, that was a horrible series finale.