Reverend Al Sharpton publicly criticized Aaron McGruder and Adult Swim for this episode. Sharpton felt that depicting Martin Luther King using the word "nigga" would "desecrate black historic figures". He demanded a public apology and threatened to stage a protest against Time Warner, Adult Swim's parent company. McGruder spoofed Sharpton's criticism in subsequent episodes and in the comic strip the show is based on.
Aaron McGruder and staff writer Yamara Taylor came up with the idea for this episode after seeing Dr. King's image used in advertisements for Apple products.
According to the DVD commentary, a major challenge to making this episode was Dr. King's slow manner of speaking. The crew was concerned that the episode would drag but wanted Kevin Michael Richardson to be accurate in his impression.
Rosa Parks died shortly after this episode was completed. Kevin Michael Richardson had to rerecord his line mentioning Parks which was changed to "before she passed".