Shareif Ziyadat/WireImage(NEW YORK) — Snoop Dogg certainly grabbed some attention when the rapper released a profanity-laced Instagram video speaking against the new remake of Roots, criticizing it for, in part, dwelling on the negative aspects of black history in America.
John Amos, who starred as the adult Kunta Kinte in the original 1977 miniseries on ABC, doesn’t agree. He tells ABC Radio that the more familiar each generation is with the horrors of the past, the better.
“Each generation should be at least superficially exposed to it, if not in depth, so that these things have more meaning and more relevance in regards to where we are as a society now,” Amos says.
The veteran actor, who also starred on the 1970s Norman Lear sitcom Good Times and, more recently, as Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Percy Fitzwallace on The West Wing, helped make history with the groundbreaking television event, which was based on the Alex Haley best-selling novel. Also starring Cicely Tyson, Maya Angelou, Lou Gossett, Jr., Madge Sinclair, Leslie Uggams, Ben Vereen and Lloyd Bridges, It broke Nielsen ratings and received 27 Emmy nominations.
“I think it’s good that it’s being retold in the new version of Roots,” Amos says. “But again, I think their work is cut out for them because people have so many choices today and quite frankly there is an aversion to looking back at our history and repeating it.”
The Roots remake wrapped up its four-night Thursday on the History channel and its associated networks. June 7, Warner Bros. Home Video will release a special commemorative Blu-ray/Digital HD version of the original Roots.
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