Chris “Ludacris” Bridges (2 Fast 2 Furious, Crash) plays Eldridge Buultjens in the film The Ride which is inspired by the real-life story of extreme sports star John Buultjens. Eldridge is a Black man in an interracial couple that takes in a foster son with a white supremacist upbringing.
A description for the movie reads, in part:
Eldridge makes it his mission to overcome the challenges of John’s white supremacist upbringing and slowly begins to forge a relationship through his foster son’s fascination with extreme sports by giving John his first bike. Rooted by this newfound passion, the family builds a bond of mutual respect, love and together they speed toward BMX glory and ultimately, redemption.
Systemic racism became a major conversation in the United States over the summer following the police killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died after then-Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. Black Lives Matter protests broke out across the world in response to Floyd’s death.
With that context, the plot of The Ride did not sit well with some social media users. The Alex Ranarivelo-directed motion picture was accused of presenting the perpetrators of racism as the victims and placing the burden of ending white supremacy on the backs of African Americans rather than Caucasians.
Besides Ludacris, the cast of The Ride includes Shane Graham as John McCord, Sasha Alexander as Marianna Buultjens, Blake Sheldon as Rory McCord, and Alexander Davis as young John McCord. The Ride is scheduled to be available for viewing on November 13 via Amazon’s Prime Video.
this is actually ludicrous https://t.co/CS6K8dEYsH
— Donwill® (@donwill) November 12, 2020
Why. Are. We. Steadily. Trying. To. Change. Them. https://t.co/CDIWGybchm
— Prentice Penny (F## YO BLUE CHECK) (@The_A_Prentice) November 12, 2020
y'all hating but what if at some point in the movie ludacris gets the big arms from the "get back" video? https://t.co/siXmstiZge
— Desus MF Nice
(@desusnice) November 12, 2020
https://twitter.com/thejetplane718/status/1326692887472566272?s=20
No. Just no. This plot is some bullshiggity. It's very premise is offensive: white folks mess up a white kid's mind turning him into a dangerous weapon and the object of that hatred has to fix him. I hate it here. https://t.co/0u1QzzINA1
— Sammy Davis Jr. Jr. (@PettyWakandan) November 12, 2020
If Luda ain’t whoopin his little ass then y’all can keep this s###. https://t.co/vd0vZSt0av
— frienducankeep (@HimDownstrz) November 12, 2020
https://twitter.com/kerrytheecancer/status/1326675917507342336?s=20
https://twitter.com/mijdreams/status/1326663238466080769?s=20
Y’all said no more slave movies and this what y’all got https://t.co/IctWZvmJqX
— Kara (@mylifeiskara) November 11, 2020
https://twitter.com/omnificent/status/1326663875962540035?s=20
we said no more slave films so they thought this was the next best thing https://t.co/l2yvOIITSa
— leen
(@richchocolit) November 12, 2020
this is why white people expect poc to educate them for free. https://t.co/TtqBUJFYin
— hot and crazy cat lady (@natalyistired) November 11, 2020