Actor Da’Vinchi is drawing online criticism after remarks on Cam Newton’s podcast that framed many Americans as lazy, long-dependent and “incompetent,” a comment critics have treated as an attack on American—and especially Black American—work ethic.
The exchange aired in early October 2026 on Newton’s Funky Friday episode of 4th & 1. Da’Vinchi (born Abraham D. Juste), the Haitian-American actor known for Darnell Hayes on The CW’s All American and Terry “Southwest T” Flenory on Starz’s BMF, said people in their mid-twenties to mid-thirties often cannot handle basic tasks such as laundry, and that he could fully take care of himself by about age eight. “In America, no shade to you guys, you’re just incompetent for a really long time,” he said. He tied the pattern to an efficiency culture that, in his view, leaves kids raised by screens and adults unprepared for ordinary work, and suggested overseas actors are often preferred because they lock in on the job rather than celebrity.
Newton disagreed on the spot. He argued that America’s premise is efficiency, not laziness, and that the problem is an “addictive ability to take the easy route” that people and companies have overused. Clips of the back-and-forth spread quickly on X and YouTube, including a short posted by Newton’s channel under a title that summarized Da’Vinchi as saying Americans are lazy.
Reaction split between people who called the conversation fair and others who rejected the generalization. Some posts framed the remarks as a diaspora actor stereotyping Black Americans, linking them to online arguments over “Foundational Black American” identity. A local Atlanta write-up quoted a fan saying Da’Vinchi “needs to chill,” and noted that separate circulating commentary attributed to him claims Black Americans lack a distinct culture—an attribution that has fueled much of the sharper pushback even as the podcast itself centered on competence, British actors landing American roles, and the pace of shows such as BMF. As of October 4, Da’Vinchi had not publicly replied in the posts reviewed, while the clips continued to circulate.
SOURCES:
Da’Vinchi Gets Real About BMF, Demetrius Flenory Jr. and the End of the Show – YouTube
