David Simon, creator of the hit TV show The Wire, recently checked a troll who claimed his show was a "fantasy" that made Black gangs look "sophisticated."
On Tuesday, Simon took time out of his day to respond to the person who claimed The Wire wasn't a show that authentically portrayed the street life in Baltimore. The person wrote that the show was great but only a "fantasy" that falsely presented Black gangs as "sophisticated, skilled, and organized."
Simon caught wind of the tweet and decided to let the person know that the show's co-creator, Ed Burns, was a lead investigator who handled drug cases in Baltimore, which meant the show was as authentic as it could get.
Simon himself was also a police reporter.
"You racist mutt," tweeted Simon. "Ed Burns, the co-creator of the television narrative, was the lead investigator on the Title III cases that encountered all of the counter-surveillance and organizational depth inherent in the Baltimore drug game. We used the real."
Another person was hyped to see Simon eviscerate the troll and claimed he was "back" on X, which led to him explaining he only stopped by to try to set the record straight.
"No. But someone sent me that [tweet] on bluesky and I had to slide over for a quick fuck-you," Simon tweeted.
The Wire aired on HBO from 2002 to 2008 and dives into the narcotics scene in Baltimore through the lens of law enforcers, drug dealers, and users. The series also touched on the government, bureaucracy, schools and the news media.
Throughout its six-year run, The Wire never won any major awards, but several critics consider it one of the greatest television shows of all time.
