Coonskin (R)

Despite claims made without evidence, director Ralph Bakshi did not research this film by going into into Harlem with a tape recorder and asked various people "What's it like being black in America?" This was actually his method of acquiring improvised monologues for the crows in his previous film, Fritz the Cat (1972). In actuality, Bakshi's socially conscious Afrocentric themes in this film originated from growing up with black friends and his views regarding racism in America originated from an event in his childhood in which Bakshi successfully persuaded his parents to enroll him in a black school, but the principal, upon learning that Bakshi was not black, pulled him out of the school during a class, as the school administration feared that a white student attending a black school would enrage racists who opposed state integration of schools.

When Martin Scorsese was filming Taxi Driver (1976) near Times Square, he captured footage of people running out of a theater showing this film due to protesters setting off a smoke bomb. He sent this footage to Bakshi who said "I didn't know whether to laugh or cry".

Although the movie had been opposed by the Congress of Racial Equality, the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) had written a letter describing the film as a difficult satire, but supported it. C.O.R.E.'s protest led to the film's eventual disappearance.

The film was subject to numerous protests by the Congress of Racial Equality led by Al Sharpton. After the group disrupted the premiere screening, Ben Gage was hired to re-record some of Barry White's voice track, in order to remove "racist references and vulgarity".

In 2005, Ralph Bakshi stated in interviews that he along with hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan and producer Albert S. Ruddy planned on producing a sequel.