×

Tracee Ellis Ross welcomes Michelle Obama to ‘black-ish’, and Anthony Anderson reveals a secret about Ross

By Ken Simmons Jan 4, 2022 | 5:00 PM


ABC/Richard Cartwright

The eighth and final season of black-ish debuts Tuesday night at 9:30 p.m. ET on ABC, featuring a very special guest: Michelle Obama. Tracee Ellis Ross, who portrays Dr. Rainbow Johnson in the series, explained to the Wall Street Journal that Michelle is her friend, she invited her to appear on the show, and Obama accepted.

“It felt really fun to welcome someone so special who’s been so important in our world, in our culture, in the kinds of stories we told on black-ish,” the nine-time NAACP Image Award winner says.

In the episode, Obama comes to the Johnson family’s home for dinner, and Dre Johnson, portrayed by Anthony Anderson, has to kick his son Junior, and his daughter, Olivia, out of the room. Zoey also crashes the party, and asks Michelle for her daughters’ sizes so she can send them samples of her fashion line.

Anderson recently revealed to Parade that prior to working with Ross on black-ish, she didn’t like him for a decade.

“We hosted the Vibe Awards [in 2005]. As we were walking onto the stage, there was a loud sound over the speaker, and I said, “Tracee? Did you fart?” The audience loved it, but what I did not know is how offended Tracee was by that comment.”

“She really didn’t start liking me until we were midway through the first season of black-ish,” Anthony added, “and so we laugh about it now.”

Finally, Variety reports Lupita Nyong’o tested positive for COVID-19 and canceled interviews for her new movie The 355, which opens Friday

The Black Panther star tweeted, “I’m fully vaccinated and taking care in isolation, so I trust I will be well. Please do all you can to keep yourself and others protected from serious illness.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.