Why Marlon Wayans' family wore sunglasses in protest on In Living Color episode: 'You ain't going to f--- my brother'

Marlon Wayans and his many family members who worked on TV's In Living Color weren't wearing sunglasses just to be cool on the 1992 Christmas episode. It was a protest.

"You ain't going to f--- my brother," the actor and comedian said on Club Shay Shay's Thursday podcast about an incident related to show creator Keenen Ivory Wayans. "We a family. You touch one, you touch all."

As Jamie Foxx sang "This Christmas" in the episode, Marlon, his siblings Shawn and Kim, and cast members David Alan Grier, Kelly Coffield, and DJ Leroy "Twist" Casey, stood stone-faced, wearing their shades and looking "like the Black Panthers have crashed the festive holiday proceedings," wrote author David Peisner in his book Homey Don't Play That! The Story of In Living Color and the Black Comedy Revolution.

Keenen was disillusioned and on the way out, because of his clashes with the network over the edgy show; in particular, Fox's repackaging of the show for reruns and to appear on a startup sister network called FX. The network's actions cut into what would have been very lucrative syndication deals for Keenen.

Fox dropped The Heights from its Thursday-night schedule and planned to fill the hole with reruns of In Living Color. "That move made the value of the old shows, which revert to Wayans’ ownership next year for sale in syndication, take an immediate nosedive," EW reported in 1993.

"I remember when we left In Living Color because Fox was syndicating the show, and it was hurting Keenen's pockets. Keenen was like, 'Nah, you ain't gonna do this to me,'" Marlon recalled on Club Shay Shay. "My family said, 'F--- this money,' and we all left In Living Color."

Keenan announced his departure on Friday, December 4, 1992, the night the sunglasses protest episode was filmed, according to Homey Don't Play That!

"This isn't something I want to do, it's something I have to do," he told his cast and writers, Peisner recounts in his book.

"Keenan isn't a guy who cries a lot," Marlon told Peisner. "When he drops a tear, everybody drops one. It was sad. We all cried like babies."

In Living Color continued to air until 1994. The show's cast also famously featured, at one time or another, Jennifer Lopez, Jim Carrey, and Tommy Davidson.

Marlon left the cast after the fourth season, as did the others Wayans. Like many of them, he went on to success elsewhere, starring in installments of the Scary Movie franchise and in the sitcom Marlon.

The irreverent show with characters such as the Head Detective and Homey D. Clown, won the Emmy for outstanding variety series in its first season.

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