Huggy Bear

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Character
Name: Huggy Bear, Huggy Bear Brown
Occupation: bartender, entrepreneur, not a pimp
Relationships: dated Miss Treasure Chest, suggested that Detective Joan Meredith may be his future wife
Fandom: Starsky and Hutch
Other:
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Huggy Bear, last name Brown, is a character in Starsky & Hutch. He is Starsky and Hutch's bartender, snitch and, importantly, close friend.

The Huggy Awards are named after Huggy.

Impact

In an interview transcribed in a 1998 Black Bean Soup, Antonio Fargas, the actor who portrayed Huggy Bear, says: "At the time, it was considered hip to have one or two black actors on your series, and I was lucky enough to be one of those."

Huggy's notorious "hip" and "urban" way of speaking has made him a symbol of badly-written black characters of the time. He is frequently referenced in humorous contexts like the TV Tropes article on "Jive Turkeys"[1] but also in impassioned rants about African American media stereotypes. Captain Dobey, another African-American character on the show, didn't draw the same fire. At the same time, many people appreciate Huggy for being a sympathetic and fairly major black character at a time when these were few and far between on television.[2]

A Pimp? A Thief?

Many mainstream articles and comments by mundanes refer to Huggy as a pimp and/or thief. While the canon Huggy is shown as having a variety of dubious (often foolish) means of employment, there is no proof he dabbled in anything more than passing on information and turning a blind eye to others' petty crimes. Huggy, in fact, was shown to have a fairly robust sense of right and wrong, something that was illustrated in canon a number of times.

The fanon Huggy Bear plays out much like the canon Huggy Bear. He is often portrayed as a good friend willing to assist Starsky and Hutch while balancing his need to survive in his world on the street.

Example Fanworks

Fanfic Pairings

Huggy Bear doesn't get a lot of action in fanon. He is sometimes paired with Mardean Rigger, sometimes with Turquet, and a few times with Starsky and with Hutch. The latter is usually a secondary pairing in a primarily Starsky/Hutch story.

Some Huggy Meta

Fanart

Fannish Resources

References

  1. ^ Jive Turkey on TV Tropes (Accessed August 26, 2010)
  2. ^ Unfortunately, one might argue that that time hasn't really ended...