Black Best Friend: Difference between revisions

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{{trope}}
[[File:stevenandalangc3.jpg|link=The Colbert Report (TV)|frame| "Can I keep him? I'll feed him!"]]
 
 
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* Misa Hayase's [[Cool Big Sis]] Claudia LaSalle /Grant from [[Macross]] / [[Robotech]]. In [[Robotech]] continuity, there's also Dana Sterling's childhood friend (and Claudia's nephew), Bowie Grant.
* Bob Makihara from ''[[Tenjou Tenge]]''.
* Kennedy/Kenichi is black in the 2003 ''[[Astro Boy (Animeanime)|Astro Boy]]'' adaptation; he seems to serve as [[The Lancer]] when the kids as a group are in focus and gets more development than any of Astro's friends save Reno.
* [[Ojamajo Doremi]] gives us Beth, Momoko's best friend from back in the USA who pops up a few times as if to say, "Momoko lived in America, and there were black people there!"
* Inverted in [[Eyeshield 21]]. We actually know quite a bit about Patrick "Panther" Spencer, but as for his best friend Homer, well... He's white. And nice. That's about it. Of course, it can be argued that Panther is Sena's black friend.
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* Jim Rhodes: friend and employee of Tony Stark aka [[Iron Man]]. The personal pilot of the billionaire who became the second Iron Man and then got his own armor as War Machine. Even before he got the suit, he still managed quite well as a [[Badass Normal]] in Stark's adventures.
* Davida Kirby, from ''Spider-Girl'': Sure, she's a great friend who's hip and always willing to lend an ear, but also... [[An Aesop|almost lost her friends due to anger and jealousy]], strings boyfriends along, and is a little insensitive and pushy sometimes. Plus she's getting suspicious of her best friend's lame excuses.
* John Stewart of the [[Green Lantern (Comic Book)|Green Lantern]] Corps is sort of this for Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner, but he's come into his own thanks to his role on [[Justice League]]. For one thing, he is now Jordan's regular duty partner Lantern for their sector of space.
** John Stewart received a fair amount of [[Character Development]] during Kyle Rayner's tenure on Green Lantern before he got a new [[Green Lantern Ring]] or Kyle was [[Executive Meddling|forced out into space]] to let John be the Green Lantern in the Justice League.
** John Stewart actually received a fair amount of character development during the late 80s and early 90s when he replaced Hal Jordan full time and got married, then subsequently lost his wife and accidentally caused the destruction of a planet, driving him insane. These experiences made him a more down-to-earth, intellectual Green Lantern than his predecessors, but were all forgotten post-Emerald Twilight when they basically made him his cartoon counterpart.
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== [[Film]] ==
* Bennet from ''[[The Sorcerer's Apprentice (Film)|The Sorcerers Apprentice]]'' is one of the greatest offenders. He only has a couple of scenes, usually for a bit of [[Comic Relief]], where he shares the bedroom with the hero and seems to be the [[Social Circle Filler|''only'' person who talks to him]] and when he does is to say that [[You Need to Get Laid|Dave has to get a girlfriend]] and introduce a [[Chekhov's Gun]] that is going to be used by the [[Big Bad]]. Then, when he's having a date, Dave calls him for help and he leaves in the same instant, meets the hero, he says he's willing to do ''anything'' to help him and then [[What Happened to Thethe Mouse?|he VANISHES without any explanation whatsoever.]] The point that [[Who Is This Guy Again?|ANYONE seems to remember this character]] makes it even more obvious.
* Michael, for SJ, in ''[[The Blind Side]]''.
* Lily, Andy's best friend in the movie ''[[The Devil Wears Prada]]''.
* Lynette from the film version of ''[[The Nanny Diaries]]''.
* Annie from the Sandra Bullock vehicle ''Premonition''.
* Bob Parr & [[Samuel L. Jackson|Lucius Best]] from ''[[The Incredibles]]''.
* Sithandra from ''[[Aeon Flux]]'', who [[Unfortunate Implications|unfortunately has monkey-like hands/feet]].
* Trey in ''Superhero Movie''.
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* General Lando Calrissian, played by Billy Dee Williams, who manages to ooze almost as much charm and charisma as his old pal Han Solo himself. In [[Real Life]], Williams had been considered for the role of Solo and he and [[Harrison Ford]] (at least at the time) were actually best friends.
* ''[[The Skeleton Key]]:'' Actually serves the plot as she introduces the protagonist to the Hoodoo that was practiced in her family. (And at the end {{spoiler|it's how we know she's going to be the next victim of body-snatching Mama Cecile who had said earlier that she wants a black woman to inhabit.)}}
* Bo Peep to Snow White From ''[[Happily N 'Ever After]] 2''. Also, Little Red Riding Hood seems to be Snow White's Arab Best Friend, complete with headscarf-esque hood.
* <s> Tosh</s> Nicole seems to be the Spice Girls' ''only'' friend in ''[[Spice World]]''. Her newborn baby is still "[[The Nostalgia Chick (Web Video)|white and smegaless]]", though.
** [[Fridge Logic|What does that make Scary, then?]]
* Inverted in the 2010 ''[[Karate Kid]]'' in that as soon as Dre moves to China a local blonde starts being his friend but barely has a line in the film.
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== [[Literature]] ==
* Fred and George from ''[[Harry Potter (Literaturenovel)|Harry Potter]]'' have Lee Jordan.
** Blaise Zabini is indicated to be the only person that Draco respects/sees as an equal. Subverting the usual implication of the character being broad-minded, both Draco and Blaise are pretty big ''[[Fantastic Racism|fantastic racists]]''.
* ''[[The Silence of the Lambs]]'' features ''two'' of these -- Clarice's roommate Ardelia and the orderly Barney, who appears to be one of the few people Hannibal Lecter respects.
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* Melanie is this to April in ''[[The Egypt Game]]'', providing an early example from [[The Sixties]]. The [[Sympathetic POV]] is actually assigned to them about equally, although April still registers more strongly as a protagonist. On the other hand, April is definitely the sassier of the two, which would have been an [[Inverted Trope]] had [[Unbuilt Trope|the stereotype been codified]].
* Melody in [[Bailey School Kids]]
* Josh to Kevin in ''[[The Eyes of Kid Midas (Literature)|The Eyes of Kid Midas]]''.
* Becky to Sara in ''[[A Little Princess]]''.
** [[Race Lift|Only black in some versions]], but always ''lower-class'' and desperately grateful for the chance to be in Sara's company, even as her servant.
* In the [[Dear America]] book ''Look to the Hills: The Diary of Lozette Moreau, a French Slave Girl'' the main character Zettie, though six years younger, is her mistress's loved and trusted companion.
* ''[[Animorphs (Literature)|Animorphs]]'' Cassie and Rachel, Jake and Cassie.
* The premise of the American Girl series with Marie-Grace and Cecille
 
 
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* Francie, Sydney Bristow's best friend, on ''[[Alias (TV series)|Alias]]''. She had her own plot about a cheating fiance that only served to show Sydney had a normal non-spy-related friend. In the second season, she had a restaurant startup subplot, and even interacted with people Sydney knew outside of their mutual friend Will. But then, she ends up killed and replaced by [[Doppelganger|someone who's been genetically altered to look like her]].
* ''[[Ally McBeal]]'': Renee, until they [[Brother Chuck|Brother Chucked]] her.
* Wes and Gunn on ''[[Angel (TV)|Angel]]'' for a while.
* This was actually the ''plot'', or at least part of it, of the Lifetime original series ''Any Day Now''. Despite their racial differences, Mary Elizabeth (Annie Potts) and Renee (Lorraise Toussaint) became best friends while growing up in 1960's Alabama, and the show jumped between their present-day lives and flashbacks to their childhoods.
* The classic ''[[Battlestar Galactica Classic|Battlestar Galactica]]''
** Tigh to Adama
** Boomer to Apollo and Starbuck
* ''[[Boy Meets World (TV)|Boy Meets World]]'' had two at different points in the show's run: Angela Moore for Topanga Lawrence and Eli Williams for Jonathan Turner. However, in Angela's case, her primary role was as Shawn's girlfriend and her friendship with Topanga grew out of her relationship with Shawn.
* Forrest to Riley on ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''.
** Although he could hardly be considered friendly.
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*** It might have needed to be taken prior to Wilmore's upgrade to correspondent.
**** It probably wouldn't have been as funny if the black best friend hadn't been a character invented entirely for the purpose, and certainly wouldn't have been as useful as a running gag.
* ''[[Community (TV)|Community]]'': One thing that gets Pierce out of his suicidal funk is that he has "a young African-American friend"
* ''[[The Cosby Show]],'' which has a predominantly black cast, inverts this trope with Cliff's ''white'' best friend, Jeffrey, played by Wallace Shawn.
* Nick and Warrick on ''[[CSI]]''.
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** And considering that the woman that Carter is in love with is black, uh, yeah. Henry's as far from a token as can be.
* Not a perfect example, but the trope is played for laughs in ''[[Father Ted]]'' where, in an attempt to appeal to the Chinese people of Craggy Island when they all start to believe he is a racist, Ted organizes an event to celebrate their culture. A slide-show is the main event where, before he gets to a cringe-worthy display of examples of "Chinese culture" (including Ted claiming that you can see the Great Wall of China "from anywhere in the world" and Mr. Miyagi) he shows a picture of himself with his arm around a black man and the pair smiling. To this he says "I forget his name now, but I got on very well with him..." before moving on.
** [[Zero Punctuation (Web Animation)|Zero Punctuation]] did the exact same joke in his review over [[Fifty Cent|50 Cent]]'s game, just a lot quicker.
* ''[[Felicity]]'': Elena Tyler
* Nick on the 2007 ''[[Flash Gordon (TV series)|Flash Gordon]]'', though thus far he's functioned mostly as a [[Butt Monkey]].
** If you count Dale Arden's cameraman/confidant, there are two of these.
* Andrea Moreno is the black best friend of Melinda Gordon in ''[[Ghost Whisperer]]''.
* In ''[[Glee (TV)|Glee]]'', Mercedes is this to Kurt.
* Ivy Wentz on ''[[Good Luck Charlie]]'' is Teddy's [[Recursion|black best friend]]. Also P.J.'s best friend Emmett is [[Black and Nerdy]].
* Averted in ''[[Homicide: Life On the Street]]'' as Frank often shoots down any attempts at Friendship Tim shows despite Tim calling Frank His best Friend. This is more to do with Pembleton's Characterisation as a self-assigned Loner.
* ''Honest'' {{spoiler|features Reza, a ''South Asian'' Best Friend. Subverted in that he's not all that smart.}}
* [[How I Met Your Mother]]: Lily's best friend from high school in the episode "Sand Castles in the Sand".
** Her friend also has an extremely thick, stereotypical "black" accent...and when Lily is talking to her, [[Crowning Moment of Funny|so does she]]. At one point, Lily leaves her friend alone with the main cast, and it turns out she doesn't normally have that accent either--they just bring out that side of each other.
* Deacon on ''[[The King of Queens]]''.
* Satirized in ''[[The LAL.A. Complex]]'' when Raquel goes out for the role of the protagonist's best friend in a new TV show and is told that they're looking for a [[Black Best Friend]].
* On ''[[Las Vegas]]'', we have Mike Cannon, who is pretty much cool personified, and frequently chases tail. [[Hollywood Nerd|He's also an MIT graduate, idolizes Stephen Hawking, and is one of the smartest guys on the show]]. (James Lesure and Josh Duhamel are actually real-life friends.) There's also Detta, who was Delinda's British BBF, and Sam Marquez, a sassy Hispanic woman(And I use the word "sassy" generously).
* Ramona Platt in ''[[Less Than Perfect]]''.
* Malcolm's best friend in ''[[Malcolm in Thethe Middle]]'' is Stevie, who is also [[Black and Nerdy]].
* For the first eight or so seasons of ''[[Married... Withwith Children]]'', Al worked alone in the shoe store. Starting in season 9, his friend and fellow NO-MAAMer Griff became his co-worker. In many respects, Griff was a black version of Al, with a bad car and an even worse job, their major difference being that Griff was divorced. Al would probably consider him better off, but as Griff told Bud in one episode, ''she got the car, the dog and the money. I got the right to remain silent.''
** He actually worked with a white guy in the first season of the show, then went a couple of of seasons working alone, before hiring a kid that was from Polk High named Aaron. Then he got a intern named Dexter (played by Chi McBride) for one episode. Then Griff came along. Plus, the only cop in Chicago who seems to like Al is Officer Dan.
* [[Matrix (TV series)|Steven Matrix]] has Billy Hicks.
* In ''My Boys'', uh, this happens. Somewhat subverted because the main character is the hip one and her black best friend is overly feminine.
* The ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' episode that features the movie ''Werewolf'' mocks this when the only black person in the film, seen for a few seconds, is introduced at a party as "my good friend Elgin."
{{quote| Mike: Elgin is my ''black'' friend.}}
* ''[[Ned's Declassified]]'' has Simon [[Only Known Byby Their Nickname|'Cookie']] Cook, who is Ned's '''nerdy''' black best friend. Should be noted that a lot of kids' shows tend to have this geeky [[Family Matters|Urkel]] type of black friend. Other examples include Tucker from [[Danny Phantom]] or AJ from [[Fairly Oddparents]].
* Barb, from ''[[The New Adventures of Old Christine]]'' is this, and it's constantly [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] by Christine.
* One of Michael Scott's quirks from the US version of ''[[The Office]]'' is his bizarre belief, [[Selective Obliviousness|in the face of all evidence]], that sales rep Stanley Hudson is a stereotypical "sassy black mentor" and that Stanley is therefore one of his best friends from work (since Michael is, of course, the protagonist of his little pop-culture fantasy world). Michael has a magical ability to completely ignore all of Stanley's real personality traits while imagining him as a [[Black Best Friend]], imagining him as a wisecracking happy-go-lucky athletic "urban" man with working-class roots , when Stanley is in fact sedentary and out of shape, laconic to the point of catatonia, frequently depressed, raised in a small town and just as if not more solidly upper-middle-class as anyone else in the office.
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* Gus on ''[[Psych]]'', though he exerts a lot of effort into ''not'' getting involved in Shawn's latest case. He's also probably a subversion, considering his general dorkiness, especially when compared to Shawn. What's his normal day-job when he's not helping Shawn solve crimes? He's a [[Salaryman|pharmaceutical sales rep]].
* ''[[Rita Rocks]]'': Patti
* ''[[Sabrina the Teenage Witch (TV series)|Sabrina the Teenage Witch]]'': Dreama from (Also a [[Token Black]].)
* Spoofed in ''[[The Sarah Silverman Program]]'' episode "Batteries" when Sarah meets God depicted as an African-American man and she asks him "Are you God's black friend?"
* ''[[Scrubs (TV)|Scrubs]]'': Parodied with J.D. and Turk. J.D. is a total dork whose best friend is a black guy, but Turk is only slightly less, if not ''equally'', dorky despite also possessing several jock characteristics. Generally said, [[Scrubs]] is one of the rare shows that handles the topic "racism" openly, and isn't afraid to do so. Examples are jokes about the white, [[Geek|geeky]] stereotype or the black [[Surfer Dude]] stereotype. They are very, very aware of this trope, frankly. Their nicknames for each other are 'chocolate bear' and 'vanilla bear'. In another episode they went to a frat party with [[Refuge in Audacity|J.D. in blackface and Turk in whiteface]], J.D. obviously more worried about the implications than Turk was. Turk got caught up elsewhere and J.D. was left to the mercy of the black fraternity leaders.
* Alex Mack from ''[[The Secret World of Alex Mack]]'' has Raymond as her black best friend.
* Parodied in an episode of ''[[Seinfeld]]'' in which George offends his black boss when he says he resembled Sugar Ray Leonard(He really did). He goes as far as trying to find any black person he's had contact with recently to prove to his boss he's not a racist. He ends up inviting Jerry's black <s>plumber</s> exterminator to a dinner with his boss and pretending they're old high school buddies. Obviously, it blows up in his face.
* The Hamiltons of ''[[Seventh7th Heaven]]'', an entire family with a black best friend for every Camden family member.
* Pete in the early seasons of ''[[Smallville]].'' The first character outside the Kent family in whom Clark confided about his powers.
** Made all the more transparent by the fact that Pete Ross was a blond, blue-eyed white boy in the comics.
** Regrettably, the writers never gave him ''anything'' to do, even after he learnt about Clark's powers, and the role of Clark's best friend was quickly assumed by the much more interestingly written and acted Chloe Sullivan. Pete Ross became an achingly obvious [[Token Minority]] and was eventually [[Put Onon a Bus]].
** Unlike everyone else Pete never had a place (barn, talon, torch office, kitchen) and his only problem was living in Clark's shadow so he left for good reason.
* The worst offender is the extremely WASPy and nationalist and hateful family from ''[[Small Wonder]]'' where the jerkass protagonist kid has a black best friend in Jerry.
* La Donna Frediricks of ''Square Pegs'' was valley girl Jennifer Di Nuccio's best friend and shared the "most popular girl" mantle with her. In spite of her cliché sassy blackness, she thankfully never fell prey to the more boring [[Positive Discrimination]] laws of the day that would've castrated her [[Alpha Bitch|Mean Girl]] evil. While proving marginally smarter and more accomplished than the other popular kids, La Donna was a bully at heart, and was just as cruel, selfish, and shallow as the rest of her clique -- La Donna's catchphrase was an always uncalled for "I ''hate'' that," and she routinely referred to the two protagonists derisively as "that fat girl" and "that fat girl's friend".
* Huggy Bear to ''[[Starsky and Hutch (TV series)|Starsky and Hutch]]''.
* ''Summerland''; had Susannah, the black best friend of Ava.
* Owen on Supah Ninjas.
* ''[[That's So Raven]]'': [[Inverted]] with Chelsea who's the [[Token White|Best White Friend]]
* Lampshaded in ''[[30 Rock (TV)|Thirty Rock]]''. When Liz tries to make friends with Tracey's wife, Angie, she asks "Are you looking for a sassy black friend?" When Liz stumbles for words, Angie continues: "Because you just found one, girlfriend!"
* Kenny on ''[[Til Death]]''.
* Jay Leno of [[The Tonight Show]] regularly exchanged banter with Kevin Eubanks.
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* Tara and Lafayette (who is gay and black, so he gets the [[Twofer Token Minority|twofer]] label), Sookie's best friends on ''[[True Blood]]'', though Tara falls more into the catagory.
** This is almost a subversion, as Tara not only gets substantial characterization, but her own, season-long plot arcs that sometimes barely intersect sookie's at all. Same with [[La Fayette]].
* Bonnie to Elena and Caroline on ''[[The Vampire Diaries]]''. She's not a perfect example because she's a fleshed-out character with plotlines of her own, is more aware of and capable of handling what's going on in the [[Town Withwith a Dark Secret]] than many characters, and is even a [[Magical Negro]], but she's sassy, black, and a good friend, so it's still worth mentioning.
** The "sassy" part is unfair, since [[World of Snark|everyone in this show is sassy]]. Except Elena and Stephan sometimes.
* Wallace on ''[[Veronica Mars]]''. He gets his own story in season 2...which results in him leaving the show for several episodes...and is promptly written into the background of season 3. Weevil might also count as a sassy latino associate, but he's got enough of his own motivations that he might count as independent of Veronica...except he needs her help frequently to get him out of jail.
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** (Also, Neptune, the town where the show takes place, is divided into classes which look at the money you make and frequently also the colour of your skin (some exceptions, but as a rule the white kids are on top) - Wallace wasn't so much the black best friend to give the main character a black best friend, rather he was black because she wouldn't be able to make friends with someone who wasn't also spurned as a social outcast to some degree, and with the town being a little racist as well as money obsessed, it made sense for it to be the black boy she felt sympathy for.)
* ''[[Wonderfalls]]'' has an odd case with Mahandra, who, unlike other examples, has a love life and the occasional wacky subplot.
* Wayne Brady on ''[[Whose Line Is It Anyway? (TV)|Whose Line Is It Anyway]]'', with Phil LeMarr filling in that role in the English version.
 
 
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** Being in the same class as Peppermint Patty with all her silliness helps.
* Prince Lothar from ''[[Mandrake the Magician]]''. He became an [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] and got more [[Character Development]] than usual, though.
** When the two appeared on ''[[Defenders of the Earth (Animation)|Defenders of the Earth]],'' Lothar finally got ''equal billing.'' Which seems fair, considering that he's always been described as the [[World's Strongest Man|Strongest Man In the World.]]
* Lawrence is Michael's Brazilian (and gay) friend in ''For Better or For Worse''. Usually he's pulled out to show how tolerant the Pattersons are.
 
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* Alice in ''[[Loserz]]'' is a Black Girlfriend. See [http://bukucomics.com/loserz/go/277 this] strip.
* [[Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff|intoducing, the new friend................]] [http://www.mspaintadventures.com/sweetbroandhellajeff/?cid=007.jpg GEROMY]
* Jivin in ''[[Asperchu (Webcomic)|Asperchu]]''.
 
 
== [[Web Original]] ==
* In ''[[The Gamers Alliance (Roleplay)|The Gamers Alliance]]'', [[Bald Black Leader Guy|Ismail]] is [[Magic Knight|Belial's]] best friend. They met each other for the first time when Belial began [[Star-Crossed Lovers|spending time]] with [[Royals Who Actually Do Something|Sultana]] [[Lady of War|Razia]] whom Ismail served as the captain of the guard in Vanna. The two men instantly got along and actually began teaching each other about their respective cultures, gaining mutual respect over the years which turned into a lasting friendship. When Razia's twin sister [[Woman Scorned|Adela]] usurped the throne, Ismail was sent into exile. Belial immediately offered him and the other exiled people a sanctuary in his Maar Sulais home, and Ismail returned the favour by becoming Belial's bodyguard as well as the mentor of Belial's son.
* At the start of the ''[[Zero Punctuation (Web Animation)|Zero Punctuation]]'' review of ''50 Cent: Blood on the Sand'', Yahtzee explains that he's not a racist. [[media:yzblackfriend.jpg|This photograph]] flashes up for just one frame.
** Then flashes up again. And again. Including ''after'' [[Curse Cut Short|the last line of the video]], which cuts off a... [[N-Word Privileges|not very nice word for black people.]]
* ''[[Theatrica]]'': Vivian
* When talking about the "sensitive issue of race" [[The Nostalgia Chick (Web Video)|The Nostalgia Chick]] parodies this by saying that its okay, because her best friend is black. Cut to the definitely white Nella:
{{quote| '''Nella''': [[Crowning Moment of Funny|I'm adopted. Fo' shizzle.]] }}
* In the [[Whateley Universe]], Jericho is this to Diamondback and Razorback. Given that Diamondback looks like a naga and Razorback looks like he's mostly velociraptor, not a lot of people ''want'' to be their friend.
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* Carver in ''[[The Weekenders]]''.
* Monique from ''[[Kim Possible]]''.
* Libby Folfax from ''[[The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius]]'' to Cindy Vortex.
* And let's not even get started with Trixie of ''[[American Dragon Jake Long (Animation)|American Dragon Jake Long]]''. Hell, if the race wasn't off, Jake himself would qualify.
* All-around cool kid Gerald Johanssen in ''[[Hey Arnold (Animation)|Hey Arnold]]''. Though unlike most examples, it didn't [[Flanderization|consume]] his entire character.
** Arguably, Nadine counts too as she's Rhonda's best friend.
* ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' has this as part of a typical [[Token Trio]] set-up; Tucker is a Techno-Geek, and they're all [[Cool Loser|Cool Losers]].
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** They've also served as the [[Only Sane Man|Only Sane Couple]], superseding even Daria Heroine herself. In one episode, Daria [[What the Hell, Hero?|is somewhat taken aback]] when Jodie uses her Dad's reputation to complete an economics assignment. {{spoiler|Daria is later forced to admit that [[Family-Unfriendly Aesop|business people use the same tactics in real life]], and lets Jodie of the hook.}}
* Abby in ''[[The Replacements]]''.
* Possibly parodied with ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy (Animation)|The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy]]'', where Billy's [[Black Best Friend]] Irwin ''tries'' to be cool, but is a complete and almost hopeless dweeb with an obsessive crush on Mandy.
** His relatives are even worse. His dad is even more of a nerd then he, but fails to realize it. His Grandma is a Sassy Black Woman who can out funk anyone. One of his Grandpas is...well, a senile old Blacula. His other Grandpa is a Jewish Mummy which doesn't quite work out. His mom is a hideous corpse mummy, about which nobody needs to ask any questions.
* Terry McGinnis' friend Max in ''[[Batman Beyond (Animation)|Batman Beyond]]'', one of the few besides him and Old Man Wayne who know his secret identity.
** That said, alot of fans wished they were more than that.
** Her creation was an edict from above, and had some Executive Meddling been heeded, Max would have [[What Could Have Been|replaced Dana as the love interest by the end]]
* Played in ''[[Family Guy (Animation)|Family Guy]]'' in its parody of ''[[The Shawshank Redemption]]'':
{{quote| ''Andy: Oh, we've only had one conversation, but I can tell we're gonna be life-long friends. And since you're black, and I'm white, that makes it more a-special for the audience!''}}
* Jonathan Reed is one of the earliest examples of this trope in ''[[Davey and Goliath]]''.
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* In ''[[Static Shock]]'' there's what you could call an inversion. The protagonist is black, but there's nothing wrong with it. He's just a normal teenager kid, for whom his skin color is only an actual issue when the show is actually talking about racism. However, his best friend is Richie, who you could call... 'White Best Friend'. Richie is, perhaps deliberately, as white as a character can be. Being a geek, completely uncool and utterly... well, white.
** [[Word of Gay|And gay.]]
* [[Alpha Bitch|Miranda]] on ''[[As Told Byby Ginger]]'' is Courtney's best friend. Miranda is extremely popular and generally very cool.
* AJ on ''[[The Fairly Odd Parents]]'' is the black friend to both Timmy and Chester, though in a bit of a subversion he's probably the smartest and most level-headed of the three.
** AJ is definitely the smartest both academically (he gets LOTS of A's while Timmy and Chester pretty much fail exclusively) and in terms of common sense, though his attempts to get Timmy to not make ridiculously bad decisions don't really work.
* Quincy from ''[[My Dad the Rock Star]]'' is this to the male lead Willy. Unique in that he is not portrayed as cooler than the already nerdy-looking Willy. In fact, he's a subverted [[Jive Turkey]] who tries to talk in street slang and appear hip hop, but comes off as a clear poser to everyone else.
* Discovery Kids' animated series ''[[Growing Up Creepie]]'' has Beuregard "Budge" Bentley III, though like many black characters on shows aimed at younger kids, he's [[But Not Too Black|not overly portrayed as black.]]
* ''[[Iron Man: Armored Adventures]]'' has Rhodey, who's Tony's best friend, confidant, and moral compass for most of the series. He is by far the most calm and mature out of all the main characters. He's also the only person who calls Tony out when he does morally/intellectually questionable things and is basically the main cast's voice of reason.
* From ''[[Total Drama Island (Animation)|Total Drama Island]],'' Leshawna, especially in regards to Gwen.
** [[Animals Hate Him|DJ]] to Geoff.
* In ''[[Stickin' Around]]'', Bradley is precisely this for Stacy.
* ''[[Fillmore]]'': [[Averted Trope|Averted]]. Fillmore is the main character; Ingrid is ''his'' white (and female) best friend.
* In ''[[Futurama (Animation)|Futurama]]'''s [[Show Within a Show]] ''All My Circuits'', Calculon's best friend is a human - who doesn't have a name and is only known as "human friend." Similar in spirit.
* Despite the fact that Tiana is the heroine of [[The Princess and The Frog (Disney)|The Princess and Thethe Frog]], Charlotte is so spoiled that she gets all the fairy tale dresses she wants and when her seamstress shows up she brings her black little girl to play with Charlotte.
* Eema the Styracosaurus is probably this to [[Last of Her Kind|Baylene the Brachiosaurus]] from Disney's ''[[Dinosaur (Disney)|Dinosaur]]'', judging by her accent (Baylene has a British accent).
* ''[[Phineas and Ferb (Animation)|Phineas and Ferb]]'''s Stacy Hirano, though Asian, fits this trope to a T, being the [[Only Sane Man|sane]] counterbalance and voice of reason to her neurotic white best friend Candace.
* [[Word of God]] has Skeeter from ''[[Doug]]'' as this, despite the fact he's [[Amazing Technicolor Population|blue in the series]].
* ''[[Voltron Force]]'' Vincent is Daniel's best friend. Unusual case in that the Black guy is the best friend of an Asian guy!