The actor who played Stanley in 'The Office' shared screenshots of racist messages he received on Instagram

• "The Office" star Leslie David Baker received racist messages on Instagram after sharing his plans for a comedy spin-off featuring his character Stanley Hudson.
• "For those of you who don't believe racism is still alive in the world... here's the proof," the actor wrote in a post showing screenshots of some of the messages.
• The crowdfunding campaign has since raised close to $300,000, and after shooting a pilot episode Baker intends to shop the show to potential television networks and steaming platforms.
• During an interview with Comic Book, Baker said that he intends to keep all the racist messages he received up on his Instagram feed for people to see.
• "In order to affect change, you can't just press the delete button and pretend that it didn't happen," he said.

Leslie David Baker, who played Stanley Hudson in "The Office," has shared some of the racist messages he received in response to starting a crowdfunding campaign on Instagram.

Last month, Baker, who appeared in all nine seasons of "The Office," began an online campaign to raise funds for a potential comedy spin-off which would see his character come out of retirement.

However, after announcing his plans, Baker received a collection of racist messages on the platform from people who were against his character — one of the only Black characters on the show — returning to television screens.

"For those of you who don't believe racism is still alive in the world... here's the proof," the actor wrote in a post on Instagram showing screenshots of some of the messages.

For those of you who don’t believe racism is still alive in the world... here’s the proof. Our goal has simply been to entertain and give the fans a quality series. These rants are evidence that there is still a great deal of work that needs to be done here in America regarding racism. Bigotry and hate will not be allowed to irradicate art or Black people. Enough said.

A post shared by Leslie David Baker (@thelesliedavidbaker) on Aug 10, 2020 at 10:06pm PDTAug 10, 2020 at 10:06pm PDT

His caption went on: "Our goal has simply been to entertain and give the fans a quality series. These rants are evidence that there is still a great deal of work that needs to be done here in America regarding racism."

During an interview with Comic Book, Baker said that he intends to keep all the racist messages he received up on his Instagram feed for people to see.

"In order to affect change, you can't just press the delete button and pretend that it didn't happen or say, 'Oh, it'll go away,' If I press the reset button, press the delete button, wipe it off the screen, then everything is okay," he said. "America has done that too long and too often."

The crowdfunding campaign has since raised close to $300,000, and after shooting a pilot episode Baker intends to shop the show to potential television networks and steaming platforms.

There have been constant rumors about a potential reboot of "The Office" ever since Dunder Mifflin's doors first closed in 2013. The intensity surrounding a revival seemed to pick up pace when NBC's new streaming platform Peacock added all nine season of the show to its catalogue.

However, NBC's president of original content, Bill McGoldrick, quieted all rumors earlier this year duing an interview with Deadline. He said: "We've talked about things we can do to support 'The Office' once it gets to our service, but a reboot has not come up specifically for Peacock."

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