Fans of Atlanta had been worried the series would start getting compared to Dave, the FX series starring comedian/rapper Lil Dicky. Many online have felt like Dave was an Atlanta knock-off and didn’t want the show to dilute Atlanta creator Donald Glover’s brand, while others have been debating about which show was better. While Glover didn’t go as far as to say that Dave was knocking off his series, he did tell Interview how he does feel a type of way about the series.
While interviewing himself for Interview Magazine, Glover said that he does like Dave. “But it does bother me when Atlanta’s compared to it,” he added.
He said that he felt Dave had an "artificial flavor" to it "in some sense," and that his idea for the series would have it feel more true to what the industry is actually like.
“The organic show should be about a white rapper who’s more successful than his Black peers from the jump because he’s more accessible,” he said. “But what he actually wants is to be a part of the culture, but his success keeps him from that and a lot of his Black peers and friends resent him for it but also feel like they have to f— with him because it’s good for them. That’s the internal struggle I see. Anyway.”
What offends Glover about the comparisons is that the two shows exhibit two different viewing experiences.
"I think in entertainment or art it's important to know the difference between things," he said. "Like, Anthony Bourdain wasn't pretentious, but he definitely knew the difference between a dry-aged wagyu and a smash burger. Neither is better or worse than the other. They're just different experiences. And I wouldn't want to have either every day. But I would never confuse the two. I expect the same of my audience."
“Like, Anthony Bourdain wasn’t pretentious, but he definitely knew the difference between a dry-aged wagyu and a smash burger. Neither is better or worse than the other. They’re just different experiences. And I wouldn’t want to have either every day. But I would never confuse the two. I expect the same of my audience.”
Glover was previously dismissive of Dave on Twitter before deleting his tweets about the series. He initially wrote, “I’m watching y’all say Dave is on par. Like y’all forgot what we did. No respect…we got Black people on here debating which is better, and I’m the sellout?”
