One of The Boondocks' producers for its first three seasons, Carl Jones, recently stopped by the Effective Immediately podcast to share some stories about the iconic animated TV series adaptation of Aaron McGruder's comic strip. Furthermore, you may have already heard of the story behind the Usher episode, which is actually based on a real-life experience involving Jones, his wife, and the R&B superstar. But what you might've missed is how DJ Vlad indirectly furthered a rift between Jones and McGruder that eventually led to Jones' departure from the show.
Apparently, according to Carl Jones, his animation of DJ Vlad for The Boondocks – and how he shared this sketch with the VladTV host – rubbed Aaron McGruder the wrong way. More accurately, though, it was allegedly the final straw in a longer process of Jones doing work for other projects such as the animated Black Dynamite series, and McGruder frustratedly feeling like Jones "was starting to do [his] own thing." Their rift "kind of unraveled from there," according to Jones, but it's curious that Vlad was indirectly involved in this separation.
Why Did The Boondocks End?
"My last season was the third season," Carl Jones said regarding The Boondocks and Aaron McGruder. "There are two things that contribute to this. I started developing Black Dynamite at the time and I don’t think Aaron was too happy about it because I think he was trying to keep me under his wing for as long as he could. But I was at the point where I was starting to grow and expand… And do my own thing. That didn’t mean I was walking away from The Boondocks… But I was also producing other things… And that really rubbed [Aaron] the wrong way."
As For DJ Vlad, he continues to enjoy his hip-hop interviews and (sometimes controversially) speak on other Black issues, but we wonder if he knew the extent to which he indirectly affected The Boondocks, Carl Jones, and Aaron McGruder before this interview came out. Perhaps he has more developed thoughts on the matter coming further down the timeline, but for now, we can just appreciate how random this crossover is.
