NYSocBoy's Beefcake and Bonding: "The Neighborhood": Two nuclear families and a kid who may or may not be trans. With bonus chubby black men

Sep 3, 2024

"The Neighborhood": Two nuclear families and a kid who may or may not be trans. With bonus chubby black men

We'll start with a chubby black man. Just keep him in mind

I was going to give The Neighborhood, on Hulu, a miss. Next door neighbors, both heterosexual nuclear families, dealing with race issues, and not a gay person in sight. But 14-year old Hank Greenspan, who plays Grover, has long hair and a femme look, so I checked his Instagram to see if he is gay in real life, I found this:

"Together we win."

I'm not familiar with this symbol, but one of the comments was: "Another trans actor or just brainwashed."

So presumably Hank or their character has come out as trans, and love wins.

But when I searched for "The Neighborhood," "Cedric the Entertainer," and gay or transgender, nothing came up.

When I tried "Hank Greenspan" and gay or transgender, I got an article on cultural appropriation that doesn't mention either, and a reddit post that called him a "child actress," but was being homophobic.

So who is winning for trans equality?

Seasons 6 and 7 are not available on Hulu, so I'm reviewing a Season 5 episode that looked Grover-centric, "Welcome to the Working World."

Scene 1: The chubby Marty (Marcel Spears, below), and a woman are cuddling while watching a movie. He says "God is good." Then his Brother Malcolm (Shean McKinley) wants to know why it's dark in here, and he groans "The devil is active, too." The deadbeat used up all of the woman's strawberry -mango body wash, and when they're not looking, steals their snacks.

Their Dad, Calvin (Cedric the Entertainer), and Mom, Ticina Arnold of Everybody Hates Chris, knock, wondering why the door is locked Wow, Cedric is chubby, too. If you're a chubby chaser -- and who isn't? - this is the series for you.

Chub Marty and his girlfriend scurry to fix things so Mom and Dad won't know that they were getting busy. Then the oldsters insist on barging into their movie night, so no smoochinig or sex!

Everybody Hates Chris also starred Tequan Richmond, now grown up and hung, as Chris's younger brother, whom everybody in the world fell in love-at-first-sight with. It allowed him to score free desserts at lunchtime, and he never got detention, but around Valentine's Day, the truckloads of cards and presents began to arrive.

Sorry, not sorry for the digression. Back to The Neighborhood after the break

Scene 2: The next door neighbors at breakfast. Dad Dave (Max Greenfield) is thrilled by the mail, until he discovers that Grover got a check for $130 from Korea.

The kid has long hair and is wearing makeup, but they use he/him pronouns and call him their son, so I'm going to go with femme gay, not transgender.

Why the windfall? He's posting videos on PaddiWak, a TikTok type website, and getting subscribers.

Mom disapproves: The internet is not a safe place for kids. So Dad Dave decrees: no more videos. "Why not?" "Because I said so." Femme Boy Grover angrily runs upstairs.

Scene 3: Visiting the neighbors, Mom moans that the internet is full of predators, not safe for her kid. But Brother Malcolm, a subscriber, points out that the videos are funny and perfectly innocent. Besides, he needs the money for something high-tech that I don't understand.

How about getting him another job, one that "teaches the value of hard work"? Grover is only 13, but they talk Cedric the Entertainer Calvin into giving him an after-school job at the auto shop. Dad Dave wants to hug in appreciation, but Calvin is disgusted by the idea of touching another man, and dramatically pushes him away. Homophobe!

Scene 4: Chub Marty from Scene 1 is giving his girl a foot rub and preparing for sex, when Cedric the Entertainer Calvin interrupts them again. Maybe don't do it in the living room?

Why is everyone in these illustrations so sweaty?

Scene 5: At the auto repair shop, Femme Boy Grover is trying to sweep the floor, but he doesn't do it right, so Cedric the Entertainer Calvin demonstrates. Uh-oh, Grover is filming him!

Employee Manny slips on some spilled oil and hurts his back. Who spilled it and then didn't clean it up? Guess.

Scene 6: Calvin drives Femme Boy Grover home. The parents are anxious to see how it went: Grover thinks that he did great, and Calvin is afraid to admit that he was a screw-up.

Later, Calvin tells his Everybody Hates Chris wife that the kid is making more work for him, plus his employee, Manny, is going to sue for his hurt back. Surely worker's comp will take care of that.

Scene 7: Some time later, Dad Dave sits in Calvin's office, gushing over how great a job his son is doing. Calvin prevaricates. A customer comes in, noting that he heard about the shop on PaddiWanks. Another chubby guy! Take your shirt off, buddy.

Wait, they don't have any videos posted on PaddiWacks... uh-oh. Femme Boy Grover, get in here!

Scene 8: In the B plot, Mom spoils yet another of Marty and his girl's attempt to have sex in front of the tv. Just take her to your room.

Scene 9: The parents are yelling at Femme Boy Grover for being irresponsible, and plan to take away his phone. He explains that he's in middle school now, and having trouble fitting in. The videos help him make friends. Awww. The kid's definitely gay.

Then Calvin comes in, elated. He's getting a lot of business from Grover's subscribers on Paddiwank. Could he do some more videos to advertise the shop?

Scene 10: Resolving the "why can't we make out on our couch" issue: Marty and his girl are going to get their own place. The end.

Beefcake: Lots of chubby guys, but they don't take off their clothes.

Heterosexism: Three heterosexual couples. Brother Malcolm doesn't express any heterosexual interest in this episode, but he has a regular girlfriend.

LGBTQ Characters: In other episodes, Femme Boy Grover crushes on girls, so he's either a cisgender straight boy or a transgender lesbian. But I see no evidence that Grover is transgender.

Update: I found Season 6 on Roku, and fast-forwarded through every episode. Grover appears in, at most, one scene per episode. No evidence that he is transgender. That picture must be about winning something else.

My Grade: After all that jerking around, I think we need another chubby black man. Or a black man with a chubby.