The encounter happened during season 3 production.
Donald Glover and two of his Atlanta writers say experienced racial harassment on the first day the crew was in London last year to film season 3.
During a news conference at the Television Critics Association, co-writers Stefani Robinson and Stephen Glover -- Donald's brother and also executive producer of the hit FX series -- addressed the incident that shocked them so much they didn't immediately realize what had transpired.
"It was the first night there," Stephen said via Insider. "This group of people walks up. And maybe one of them kind of notices Donald or recognizes him. And she stops and they start asking if they know anywhere around here to get something to drink. I think we were talking to them for a second. It's this girl and two or three other guys."
Stephen later said one of the men told them they could break into the bar because "you guys all carry hammers," as in guns.
"Mind you, all of the writers on 'Atlanta' are Black. So, he's making a reference that we all have hammers, and we can just break into this place, which we kind of ignored," Stephen said.
Robinson added the entire situation was "so insulting, but not insulting at the same time because it took us five minutes to fully understand." And things only escalated from there.
"He got to a point of like if the insinuation was lost on us, he got specific and he was like, 'You guys are Black, you've gone to jail and you do things like that.' Like he kept doubling down on it," Robinson said.
The shocking incident ended shortly after, but not before another man made another racially-charged comment as the group conversed with a woman.
"She's talking to us. And then, after a minute, the guy just runs back down the street and grabs her and throws her over his shoulder, and he's like, 'Run. They are going to rape you, like, rape you,'" Stephen said. "The girl was literally, like, 'I'm sorry,' as she's being taken away. So, it was pretty bad."
They were all stunned in disbelief.
"We are just standing there, like, 'What just happened?'" Donald said.
Days later, Donald tweeted about the incident, writing, "That 'racially abused' headline about us is lame. The story is tru. But we were all laughin' tellin' it."
The group shared the tale on the same day FX chairman John Landgraf revealed the acclaimed series is ending after season 4, which is set to premiere sometime this fall.
"I wanted to end this after season 2," Donald said later, when asked about closing out the series with season 4. "I feel like the story was always supposed to be what it was... It really was what we were going through and what we talked about."
Atlanta’s long-awaited return of season 3 premieres with a two-parter on March 24. The new episodes come four years after season 2 aired in 2018.
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