The Johnsons, Untethered: Black-ish Is Putting a Terrifying Twist on Halloween 2019

No, we don’t mean a reprisal of their genius Jackson 5 family costume (above). This year, the fictional family we know and love as the Johnsons are taking an eerily familiar approach to the group costume, revisiting perhaps the most terrifying film of the yearβ€”and one of the blackest. Suggested Reading Anna Wintour Exits Vogue…

No, we don’t mean a reprisal of their genius Jackson 5 family costume (above). This year, the fictional family we know and love as the Johnsons are taking an eerily familiar approach to the group costume, revisiting perhaps the most terrifying film of the yearβ€”and one of the blackest.

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Walter Davis On Building a Black-Owned Bank From Zero to $2 billion
Walter Davis On Building a Black-Owned Bank From Zero to $2 billion

That’s right: the Black-ish clan is taking on Us.

Tracee Ellis Ross teased the costumes over the weekend, shouting out the Black-ish hair, makeup and wardrobe team for the cast’s transformation into Red, Abraham, Pluto and Umbraeβ€”including scissors, baseball bat, and creepy white rabbitβ€”and a hilarious side of Junior (Marcus Scribner) as doomed neighbor Josh.

No word on if we can expect some tethered-level terror on Tuesday night’s episode.

Of course, that’s not all (nor do we think these are the only costumes we’ll be seeing on this week’s show). Ross, Marsai Martin and Miles Brown got even further into character with some dead-on impressionsβ€”and seriously, we can’t even look at this too long without shuddering.

β€œYou look exactly like Us!!! βœ‚οΈβ€ commented Lupita Nyong’o, after being tagged by Ross. Other well-known friends were as spooked as we are:

β€œTracee, this is horrifying,” said Issa Rae, while 2019 Root 100 honoree Latham Thomas wrote, β€œNah Tray this is all the way cray 🀣🀣🀣.” Elaine Welteroth loved the transformation, commenting β€œOmg omg omg best best best ❀️,” and Halle Berry simply gave it a standing ovation, with β€œπŸ‘πŸ½πŸ‘πŸ½πŸ‘πŸ½πŸ‘πŸ½.”

Meanwhile, we got the impression that Black-ish co-star Deon Cole may have been getting the preview at the same time as, well, Usβ€”as evidenced by his comments: β€œLololol great!!!!” and β€œDope!!!”

But Ross wasn’t done with the Halloween revelry; before the weekend was out, she’d also channeled the legendary DJ Quik (complete with facial hair) for a β€œCalifornia Love”-themed birthday party hosted by Gabrielle Union (more on that to come).

Halloween isn’t until Thursday, but I think we already know who won.

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Straight From The Root

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