Romany Malco explains how 'Tijuana Jackson' is a comedy with a vital message

Actor Romany Malco spoke to Yahoo Entertainment about how his new movie, "Tijuana Jackson: Purpose Over Prison" has something to say about the cycle of incarceration, particularly as it pertains to black men. "I wanted to show that that brother is in your family," he said. "I know you got an uncle or a cousin or somebody that you consider a knucklehead, that's just like this dude." Malco's long-running character Tijuana Jackson is an ex-con struggling to be a life coach, when in fact his own life needs plenty of coaching. "And I wanted to highlight that to everyone so that they would be more sensitive to the George Floyds of the world," he said. "They grow up to be Tijuana Jackson, if they even survive."

Video Transcript

- Have you contacted your family?

- Y'all kidding, right? My family probably waiting for me outside right now. They'll be here.

KEVIN POLOWY: Congrats on the film, excited to talk to you about it. To paraphrase TJ, it's like, it hits that sweet spot between Spielberg and Tyler Perry, you know. I know. I enjoyed it. It's really funny. It's surprisingly sweet by the end of it all. Tell us about the genesis of this one. I know this character is not new for you.

ROMANY MALCO: What I did was I started this character in 1999 and would literally roll around with the camera and film myself doing this character and plug it into my TV and play it for my friends. That was it. This character didn't make it online until maybe 2007, Myspace. And then eventually videos-- I started uploading videos in 2011.

- As I reevaluate the choices I made along the way, became clear that a [BEEP] was doing everything in his power to get a cameo on "Cops."

KEVIN POLOWY: There's a lot of laughs to be had in the film. But I think it's also clearly saying something about the cycle of incarceration, particularly when it comes to Black men. I mean, how much did you look at this film as an opportunity to comment on that? And what did you want to say?

ROMANY MALCO: That's all that it's about. And unfortunately, if you spent enough time being institutionalized, you made mistake the way you survive on the inside as a means to surviving on the outside. All of these things affect our communities. It effects that the children in our communities. It affects people who've never been incarcerated in our communities, but have to encounter you. Or maybe dating a woman that you had a child with, all of these things play a factor.

And then on top of all of that, you've got these people being cycled into prison, like we call it, gladiator school, and then put back into the community. And unfortunately, this process creates a lot of trauma. As a result of that, I wanted to show the person who's dealing with that, that emotional disorder, or potentially that learning disorder, having to navigate his way through this world and show how he's misunderstood and how he consistently gets in his own way.

And I wanted to show that that brother is in your family. It's in your family. I know you've got an uncle, or a cousin, or somebody that you consider a knucklehead that's just like this dude.

KEVIN POLOWY: Sure.

ROMANY MALCO: And I wanted to highlight that to everyone, so they would be more sensitive to the George Floyds of the world, so they'd be-- at the time, there wasn't a George Floyd. But to all of these young men that these politicians has labeled as predators and in deplorables. So they grow up to be Tijuana Jackson, if they even survive.

KEVIN POLOWY: Well, Hollywood, the industry that you work in, is undergoing its own reckoning in the wake of George Floyd's murder. I mean, you've worked in this business for over two decades now. What sort of bias or shortsightedness have you witnessed or encountered?

ROMANY MALCO: I'm kind of unique instance in California. But I've definitely found that there is a Black fee and a white fee. Very, very early on in my business, when I first started, I remember negotiating my first show. And they literally were trying to pay me about $8,000, $7,000, $8,000 less than the other cast members.

And their reason was, well, Romany doesn't have as much experience and blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, as much experience as who? Who's got the most experience on this cast? Show me your top billing talent, because I knew what the other people were making.

Me and my agent got on the phone. And she was like, Rom, it's your first job. You need this job. It's going to help you get other jobs. I was like, yeah, but ain't taking it for that [BEEP]. I ain't taking it for that [BEEP] ever. She talked to them, and they ended up coming up a couple grand. And I was like-- and she was like, you are one lucky MF. They actually came up, dude, so congratulations.

I was like, I ain't taking that job. I told you, either pay me as much or more as the other cast members, or just find another brother. And I literally stuck to my guns. She hung up the phone on me, and then she had to tell them that I wasn't doing the job, and then they had to tell her that they were willing to pay me equally. And I pretty much navigated through Hollywood in the same way.

Even now on my show, "A Million Little Things," we had a huge battle, where it was director Pete Chatmon, one of the writers from the writers room, and myself. We were doing a scene where my character was supposed to walk in and confront this person who'd been ripping him off and sit down. And I was like, I'm telling you right now, Black or not, I would not sit down here, and here's why.

And she was like, but yeah, but then you might create this uncomfortable situation for this guy, because the guy that was sitting with the person I was confronting is a Black man. And so this woman, this Caucasian woman, is looking me in the face and telling me-- I asked, I said, so you think you'd be intimidated? You think he'd be intimidated? She goes, I would.

I was like, OK, look at yourself, and then look over to BJ Britt, Black, buff dude, handsome as ever. Just try to imagine what he might have gone through to get to the point that he's in, and ask me how he'd be intimidated by another brother walking into a fancy restaurant to confront someone that he's gone to college with.

And she didn't really have anything to offer, so we-- and I ended up standing my ground. We ended up having a conference call. I missed my whole lunch over this thing. And they agreed to allow me to do it the way that I wanted to do it.

And she comes up to me and goes, you were right. This scene plays beautifully. You were absolutely right. And she's like, you just make everything better. And I love that you fight to make things better. And thank you.

- The shrimp is really delish. It could use a pop of lemon, but other than that, banging.