You Have These Antibodies Waitin' to Pop Off: Black Amplification Rhetorics in Tyler Perry's COVID-19 Vaccine Special.

This article interrogates COVID-19 Vaccine and the Black Community: A Tyler Perry Special, a health communication program that addressed vaccine hesitancy in the Black community during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using critical race theory (CRT) and amplification rhetoric, we, two Black scholars, analyze how the program leveraged culturally resonant storytelling, African American Vernacular English (AAVE), and the influence of Tyler Perry to challenge medical mistrust and race-based structural inequities. While acknowledging that the Black experience is not monolithic, the special reframes vaccine hesitancy in the Black community as "healthy hesitation," and centers collective Black experiences to critique historical and contemporary medical racism. Additionally, anchored in Black epistemologies, the special employs platforms like BET and YouTube to connect with audiences in culturally meaningful ways. In turn, this study demonstrates the power of culturally tailored health communication to build trust and offers insights into health communication strategies for members of the Black community. The study also illuminates implications at the intersections of pop culture, race, culture, and health communication.