‘The Mayor’: Is The ABC Comedy A Direct Response To Trump’s Presidency?

“The Mayor” star Yvette Nicole Brown thinks that the new ABC comedy is not a direct response to Donald Trump’s presidency.

In a recent interview with TV Guide, Brown said that she doesn’t think executive producer Jeremy Bronson had created the series for the very purpose of critiquing Trump’s administration. “I think everything in life right now would be some sort of reaction to what’s happening in politics right now, but I don’t think our creator Jeremy created this show as a response to what was happening in Washington,” said Brown, who plays Dina Rose on the series.

Brown’s Dina is the mother of aspiring rapper Courtney Rose (Brandon Micheal Hall) who ends up being elected as the new mayor of Fort Grey after deciding to join the election to promote his mix tape.

“I do like the idea … of seeing someone get a job they’re not ready for but who has a heart for doing right,” Brown said of what drew him to the TV project. “I think that that’s beautiful to see and I think that might be a way to show the rest of the nation what we could be if everyone just really cared more about taking care of each other instead of winning elections, keeping jobs, making money, all of these things that seem to be the most important thing in politics now. So I think through ‘The Mayor’ we’re going to be able to show what it’s like when a politician actually cares about the people.”

During the “The Mayor’s” panel at the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour last month, Bronson said (via Deadline) that the show’s lead character, Courtney, is not an alt-look Donald Trump, noting that the show was conceived “before the events of the past 12 months.”

“I was a producer for MSNBC for “Hardball with Chris Matthews” for seven-and-a-half years in D.C. So I have always been a political junkie and a socially conscious-type person,” explained Bronson, before adding that he had long wanted to do a scripted series about a community coming together in a non-partisan way.

In a separate interview with TV Insider, Bronson revealed that Democrats and Republicans are not a part of the show’s universe. “This is about a young man growing up and the people he’s populated his life with,” Bronson said. “The challenges that he’s facing are community-based.”

“The Mayor” premieres on Tuesday, Oct. 3 at 9:30 p.m. EDT on ABC.