Michael K. Williams Fought for Tth of Gay Character 'The Wire'

Contents:

• MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS PHED FOR MORE GAY INTIMACY ON ‘THE WIRE’: ‘YOU KNOW GAY PEOPLE F*CK, RIGHT?’
• HOW THE WIRE’S OMAR LTLE CHALLENGED GAY STEREOTYP MEDIA
• OMAR LTLE ON ‘THE WIRE’ WAS ONE OF TV’S FIRST GAY SUPERHERO
• HOW THE WIRE'S OMAR STAR FOUGHT FOR GAY REPRENTATN IN THE HBO SHOW
• MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS WISHED ‘THE WIRE’ WENT ‘ALL IN’ ON OMAR’S INTIMACY: ‘YOU KNOW GAY PEOPLE F—, RIGHT?’
• MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS PHED FOR MORE TIMATE GAY SCEN FOR OMAR ON THE WIRE: 'WE SHOULD GO ALL '
• MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS FOUGHT FOR TTH OF GAY CHARACTER OMAR THE WIRE
• WAS OMAR GAY ON THE WIRE | EVERYTHG YOU NEED TO KNOW
• THE WIRE’S MICHAEL K WILLIAMS OPENED UP ABOUT BEG ‘SRED TO PLAY GAY CHARACTER’ BEFORE HIS ATH

MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS PHED FOR MORE GAY INTIMACY ON ‘THE WIRE’: ‘YOU KNOW GAY PEOPLE F*CK, RIGHT?’

But, of urse, that’s only part of Williams’ Simon, creator of the show, once told me that whenever someone asked him why he ma Omar gay, he would rpond: Why did we make the other 19 characters straight? It’s a brilliant unterpot, one that nonts whout antagonizg, while touchg on the theme of the first LGBTQ equaly march on Washgton, back 1979: We are clus the ‘ jt didn’t talk about for people to accept the premise that the most feared man one of Baltimore’s most dangero neighborhoods was openly gay, the actor portrayg him had to first breathe life to an asphyxiated versn of Black masculy.

Said was “as gay as was Black, not that was exclively eher. It took somethg like Hugh’ poem “Mother to Son” and assumed the le “life for me a’t been no crystal stair” was solely about the impact of racism and not homophobia or a batn of the ’s what ma Williams’ work on the show as transformative as was brgg the character of Omar to life, Williams rurrected aspects of Black queerns that had largely gone missg Black artistry outsi of theater and edians such as Mart Lawrence and Jamie Foxx dog drag on TV. Betiful boyiends who would appear naked bed wh him, makg impossible for viewers not to see his sexualy as part of his Omar on a h show, beg an out and proud gay Black man livg the Black muny, was on par wh seeg Will hang out wh Grace their all-whe one — an experience that Joe Bin once said ntributed to changg attus toward gay people.

HOW THE WIRE’S OMAR LTLE CHALLENGED GAY STEREOTYP MEDIA

The “Lovecraft Country” and “Boardwalk Empire” actor portrayed gay dg aler Omar “The Wire” om 2002 to 2008. “As for Omar’s homosexualy, was groundbreakg 20 years ago, and I adm that at first I was sred to play a gay character, ” Williams penned an excerpt om his memoir “Scen From My Life” -thored wh Jon Sternfeld, via Vulture.

“I thk my ial fear of Omar’s sexualy me om my upbrgg, the muny that raised me, and the stubborn stereotyp of gay characters. Sce Omar was the “oppose of the stereotypil hood typ, ” Williams phed “The Wire” productn to showse all facets of Omar’s life onscreen, cludg his gay relatnships.

I thk the directors were sred, and I said to one of them, ‘You know gay people fuck, right? Oh, and he’s openly TVBefore Omar The Wire, cema and TV had a very rigid ia of what a gay man was.

OMAR LTLE ON ‘THE WIRE’ WAS ONE OF TV’S FIRST GAY SUPERHERO

Cultural juggernt shows of the 90s and early noughti were very specific how they viewed gay men, wh characters high-voiced, loose-limbed and the victim of homophobic jok. It was a sublimally effective way of limg what gayns uld be seen as.

HOW THE WIRE'S OMAR STAR FOUGHT FOR GAY REPRENTATN IN THE HBO SHOW

That’s not to say the shows and characters were homophobic – they weren’t; they were jt bld to seeg gayns beyond a quirk or a predomant inty tra. The characters were gay first, everythg else after.

MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS WISHED ‘THE WIRE’ WENT ‘ALL IN’ ON OMAR’S INTIMACY: ‘YOU KNOW GAY PEOPLE F—, RIGHT?’

Wh The Wire and Omar, ’s the other way around – he’s a man who happens to be gay. That don’t mean that homosexualy wasn’t important to the character; a bounty on Omar’s head is doubled after crime boss Avon Barksdale learns he’s gay, and the early murr of a boyiend is tegral to how Omar’s storyle velops the first season.

MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS PHED FOR MORE TIMATE GAY SCEN FOR OMAR ON THE WIRE: 'WE SHOULD GO ALL '

Pl Schiraldi For the first time the mastream (havg grown populary sce s release, The Wire quickly beme inic TV) gay men, and particular gay black men, had someone that was actually like them. He was humoro, hung out wh his boyiend and smoked – the gay dream; everybody’s dream, even. It’s a small touch, but an absolutely val one, pecially for young men nfed about their sexualy who would often be unsure as to how they uld be gay when they uldn’t relate to the more mp stereotyp on was larger than life, but offered a new type of character for young gay men to relate to.

Gay men aren’t supposed to be vlent, let alone the most feared man all of Baltimore. While gay men were ually the butt of jok when me to their fightg abily, Omar challenged that perceptn, as well as the ia that homosexualy should be a taboo.

MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS FOUGHT FOR TTH OF GAY CHARACTER OMAR THE WIRE

Wh a swaggerg ol – drsed a trench at, Kevlar bulletproof vt and do-rag – a ep-voiced drawl and his own theme tune (The Farmer In The Dell), Omar was the clost thg prtige TV had to a gay TVThere’s a grisly moment the first season of The Wire where the body of Omar’s boyiend is found ad the streets.

It’s more than implied that the torture is phed to the extreme bee he is gay. Omar is a gay man, proudly and openly, and also a stick-up boy who robs dg alers for a livg. ” That’s what was like for me, watchg an unashamed gay man wh no nflicts over his sexualy stt across the screen, stroyg every stereotype built up about homosexualy ont of him.

I remember readg articl (that’s what we ed to ll thkpiec, child) the queer prs eagerly applyg that sipid and blandly normalizg phrase “who happens to be gay” to Omar, as if were a prize medal. In season one, for example, dg-aler Avon Barksdale puts a price on Omar’s head – and upon learng that Omar is gay, promptly doubl .

WAS OMAR GAY ON THE WIRE | EVERYTHG YOU NEED TO KNOW

It was that the show never treated the outward signs of gayns as somethg Rickie should be ashamed of, or as thgs the dience should take as symbols for gayns wr-large. There was a specificy to the character that allowed him to move beyond the kd of didacticism "very special episos" featurg gay characters had long been rced to. Through all, she blew up suffotg gay stereotyp.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer didn't portray her as broken or wicked bee she was gay, but bee she was pa, and a pa that dienc uld unrstand stead of judge. When Ellen Man says, "I'm gay" to an airport gate microphone, what she was really sayg was, "You loved me five mut ago, and I'm still the same person. For me, Jack's refal to be anythg but himself, to give anyone the power to huiate him, was credibly powerful to watch not only as a small gay child, but as a medium-sized gay adult too.

THE WIRE’S MICHAEL K WILLIAMS OPENED UP ABOUT BEG ‘SRED TO PLAY GAY CHARACTER’ BEFORE HIS ATH

"I celebrate T Andromedon: a fat, femme, gay Black man, who liv unflchgly and joyfully his every moment onscreen. We n never unrtimate the importance of seeg gay, lbian, bi, trans, asexual, tersex and genr nonnformg people on TV. For those who didn't realize they knew a gay person real life, Will was their gateway to nnectg wh the LGBTQ+ muny.

Hall Episos: 63 (2001 - 2005) "David was one of the first three-dimensnal portrayals of a gay man on mastream televisn. Uptight, fty, and exceptnally private, David's gay inty certaly rmed his character, but wasn't the entirety of -- a rary for the early days of prtige televisn.

Williams, Omar reprents the transn om the sexls sats of gay TV past to the flawed, plited characters who n simply exist.