Michelle Obama uses ‘Black-ish’ cameo to push voter registration initiative

Michelle Obama made a guest appearance in the eighth and final season premiere of Black-ish Tuesday, after the show’s main characters attended an event for When We All Vote, an organization that Obama founded to help register and turn out voters across the country.

Obama’s role on the show began as a chance encounter between Andre and Rainbow Johnson, played by Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross respectively, and the former first lady before turning into a full-on casual dinner at the Johnson house.

Obama’s main scene in the episode mostly consisted of the rest of Dre and Bow’s family interrupting with attempts to try and impress her. And there were also a few moments of conversation between Obama, Dre and Bow about what it’s like having teenage kids.

“When our girls were that age, you should have seen how they rolled their eyes, especially at their father,” Obama said during the episode.

But clearly the cameo for Obama, who was personally asked to appear on the show by Ross herself, was about getting the word out about voter registration. And while it was subtle within the episode, Obama reiterated the objective with a Tweet after the show aired reminding people to get themselves and others registered.

Video Transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING]

DRE JOHNSON: What?

BOW JOHNSON: It's, uh, look at that.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

DRE JOHNSON: Sweet Black Jesus. That's not Jon Legend.

BOW JOHNSON: I know.

KYLIE MAR: On the eighth and final season premiere of "Black-ish" Tuesday, Michelle Obama made a guest appearance after Dre and Bow attended an event for When We All Vote, an organization that Michelle founded. And what began as a chance encounter turned into a casual dinner at the Johnson house, where they were doing normal people stuff, like just talking about their kids.

BOW JOHNSON: They're in that teenage phase--

MICHELLE OBAMA: Oh.

BOW JOHNSON: --where they never want to be anywhere near their family, like ever.

MICHELLE OBAMA: I get it. When our girls were that age, you should have seen how they'd roll their eyes, especially at their father.

BOW JOHNSON: Really?

MICHELLE OBAMA: Oh, yeah.

KYLIE MAR: The cameo for Michelle, who was personally asked to appear by the show's star Tracee Ellis Ross, mostly included Dre and Bow's family trying to impress her. But the former first lady's focus was on voting, tweeting out after the show, "So glad you were able to watch! Don't forget to tell your friends and family to register to vote with When We All Vote." And she had some wise words on the show, as well.

MICHELLE OBAMA: But it's all love. It's all love.

BOW JOHNSON: See? It's all love. Thank you.

MICHELLE OBAMA: That's what we tell ourselves.

BOW JOHNSON: Listen, I will tell myself--

[LAUGHTER]

KYLIE MAR: Viewers on Twitter celebrated Michelle's appearance on the show with comments like, "Please decide to be president in 2024," and "Michelle Obama, I too would like to invite you over for dinner." But then there was Anthony Anderson's character, Dre, who was more interested in having dinner with someone else.

DRE JOHNSON: When should we--

BOW JOHNSON: That's good.

DRE JOHNSON: --do it again? Maybe BO44 wants to join.

BOW JOHNSON: Uh-huh.

DRE JOHNSON: Yeah, put it in there right now. Why not?

BOW JOHNSON: Why don't you and I set a date? Oh, God. Um, I'm not sure about Barack.

DRE JOHNSON: Oh.