The cold open in which Barbara confuses white celebrities for Black ones was based upon a real-life incident in which Sheryl Lee Ralph thought that people like Darren Star, the creator of Sex and the City (1998), and actor Orlando Bloom were Black, when they were actually white. (In the latter's case, she most likely confused Bloom for Orlando Brown.)
Barbara Howard wanted Brian Tyree Henry to be the new Spider-Man and confused his name with Brian Austin Green. Brian Tyree Henry plays Jefferson Davis in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018).