Basic Trope: A black woman with a serious attitude problem, usually Played for Laughs.
- Straight: LaTonya is a particularly petulant, cocky and upfront black woman.
- Exaggerated: LaTonya responds to everything with snarky little "uh-huh!", a rush of hand movements, circling her head and an offended facial expression.
- Downplayed:
- LaTonya is sassy and daring, sometimes even humorous, but neither confrontational nor overbearing.
- LaTonya isn't much sassier or snarkier than anyone else on the show unless someone is acting particularly stupid, in which case she lets them have it.
- LaTonya is occasionally a Deadpan Snarker but is neither confrontational nor flirtatious.
- Justified:
- LaTonya grew up in a setting where having an attitude was necessary to avoid getting pressed on and has now integrated this mindset to her daily behavior.
- The show is a Jive Turkey making fun of racial stereotypes.
- Inverted:
- LaTonya is Prone to Tears.
- LaTonya acts like a Valley Girl.
- Alice, one of the few white characters, is sassy.
- Alice the token white girl is a Shrinking Violet.
- LaTonya is the calm and level-headed one, especially when compared with her friends.
- Gender Inverted: Tyrone is a sassy black man.
- Subverted:
- LaTonya only acts like this in the workplace or at school but it turns out she's a much warmer and considerate person in private...
- LaTonya meets Mei Lang, a petite Chinese woman, who happens to have an even bigger mouth than her and can actually shut her up...
- Double Subverted:
- ...that is, unless someone starts an argument, in which case it's good ol' sassy LaTonya again!
- And then Mei Lang crossed the line, prompting LaTonya to confront her harder than before.
- Parodied: LaTonya was clearly Bullying a Dragon, as trying to shittalk the local Barbaric Bully Flash Young gave her the fastest left cross for a knuckle sandwich in record time.Flash: Ever hearda' SHUTTIN' THE FUCK UP!?
- Zig Zagged: LaTonya can act quite sassy... but only to people who actually deserve it. If you don't deserve it, she won't give you any attitude at all.
- Averted:
- LaTonya isn't necessarily more sassy than anybody else on the show.
- LaTonya is black and sassy, but not in a stereotypical manner.
- Enforced: "Everybody loves black women with an ugly attitude. If we put a black woman on the show, let's make her that way".
- Lampshaded:
- "OH NO! Ya think I'm gonna take that shit lyin' down? Uh-uh, I ain't acceptin' dat! I'm a woman, I am black, hear me sass."
- "Have you ever noticed how LaTonya seems to be this total stereotypical sassy black woman all the time?"
- Invoked: LaTonya purposefully makes her mind of image so people don't mess with her.
- Exploited: Bob brings LaTonya to the deepest and nastiest part of backwoods Arkansas and lets her hate on all of the white trash until the lot of them snap.
- Defied:
- Realizing she'll end up being a wannabe of Mo'Nique or Queen Latifah, LaTonya decides to practice self-control and calms down herself into not being too angry.
- "Lady, I know how I'm going to look to everybody else on the planet, but I'm telling you right now, if you give me so much as a single "hmmmm!" ever the fuck again, I'm going to crucify you and set you on fire!"
- Discussed:Rachel: "I wish LaTonya woupd stop having an attitude problem. It's making us black women look bad."
- Conversed: "I swear, this show seems to be on a mission to use as many black woman stereotypes as it can."
- Deconstructed:
- LaTonya only acts this way as a defense mechanism against her verbally abusive peers. Really, she wishes to be subtle and gentle, but she never has an opportunity to let down her guard.
- Because of this trope, anytime LaTonya gets angry, everyone gives up to 'sassiness', even when she has something to be seriously upset about. LaTonya ends up feeling isolated and ignored by her peers.
- LaTonya ends up becoming The Friend Nobody Likes because she is a living, breathing stereotype with what seems to be a Hair-Trigger Temper (or maybe she doesn't, but the way she sasses out everything and everybody that enters her path, how can anybody be sure?)
- Reconstructed:
- LaTonya learns that being nice doesn't mean being a pushover. She actually works on becoming a kinder person. However, she is still sassy, but only when she feels it's warranted.
- LaTonya decides to use her assertive nature to advocate for herself when she's wronged. She also makes sure that none will dismiss her feelings as her being petty.
- LaTonya isn't trying to be stereotypical, she's just being herself. However, she does know that she can come off as too abrasive at times so she decides to work on herself and only use her sass when the situation would call for it.
Main Page? Ain't nobody got time for dat!
