Gay Black men rarely saw themselv on screen. Michael K. Williams changed that.

Contents:

• IS MICHAEL K WILLIAMS GAY? FANS WONR ABOUT TRIPLE 9 AND THE WIRE ACTOR
• MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS WISHED ‘THE WIRE’ WENT ‘ALL IN’ ON OMAR’S INTIMACY: ‘YOU KNOW GAY PEOPLE F—, RIGHT?’
• IS MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS GAY?
• GAY BLACK MEN RARELY SAW THEMSELV ON SCREEN. MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS CHANGED THAT.

IS MICHAEL K WILLIAMS GAY? FANS WONR ABOUT TRIPLE 9 AND THE WIRE ACTOR

Fans wonr: Is Michael K Williams gay? The actor is known for playg a range of tough guys and closeted gay characters, sparkg viewers’ cursy as to his sexual orientatn real life. He is bt known for rol cludg Omar The Wire, Montrose Freeman Lovecraft Country and Sweet Pea Triple wonr if actor Michael K Williams is gayAlthough he is known for playg a number of closeted gay characters, don’t seem like Michael K Williams is actually gay real year, actrs Tasha Smh posted a poolsi Instagram of herself and Williams, wh a ptn llg him “the love of [her] life.

Surprisgly, the character was gay. Playg closeted gay characters has bee a recurrg theme for Williams’s reer.

Portrayg openly gay stickup man Omar on HBO’s wily acclaimed “The Wire, ” Michael K. I thk the directors were sred, and I said to one of them, ‘You know gay people fuck, right? While Williams, who died of a dg overdose at age 54 last year, did not intify as gay, he mentned his memoir that he was lled “Faggot Mike” growg up.

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

The book, -wrten by Jon Sternfeld, tails Williams’ ial fears about playg a gay character onscreen. “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 wrote. “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.

IS MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS GAY?

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. Omar was also gay.

GAY BLACK MEN RARELY SAW THEMSELV ON SCREEN. MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS CHANGED THAT.

”Christian, who died 2015, ran a welg church, open to everyone — blacks, wh, straights, gays, bisexuals, trans people, sex workers, addicts, the homels, and people livg wh HIV were all clud. He hid his homosexualy while dog all of that, and then to have all that taken om him. That’s four battl that he’s fought face to face: civil rights, gay rights, HIV, the good old Amerin ary.

”Jon was one of many gay and bi men (as well as transgenr and cisgenr women of lor) who were told they had mere days or weeks to live thanks to the AIDS plitns ravagg their bodi. ”Like many men his suatn, Jon had nursed a partner as he passed away, then was evicted om their home by homophobic and distant relativ. Fah and antiretrovirals are a potent he knows, for many people wh HIV — pecially the gay on — “ is the church that is unsafe.

This is such a ccial discsn right now bee some people thk that God hat gay people.

”Back Hollywood, Williams has played memorable rol om Boardwalk Empire’s Albert “Chalky” Whe to Leonard Pe — another gay, Black Vietnam vet — on Sundance’s Hap and Leonard. Once, years ago, when asked if he had any ncerns about playg a gay character, the actor said no, he didn’t, but, “man, I got a problem wh not eatg. They were two gay men that I loved to ath.

In an dtry where Ain-Amerins are jt begng to get mastream regnn (and are still subjected to lorism stg), Williams has rved out a niche that few character actors have been able to too, cut his own path as a black man a gay culture that stggl wh racism even today. When he first h San Francsi, tradnal gay tablishments were sometim hostile to people of lor, even as AIDS began to ravage both the black and gay Wh wh Phylicia Rashad When We Rise“It was very very plited, ” Jon rells.

I thk the one that is most important the begng of this epimic, seemed as if the gay whe men and the tablishment wanted to tablish their own sandbox.

And one of our misunrstandgs the begng was, if there were eight to 10 people at the cisn-makg table, our thkg was sce they’re all gay whe men, two or three are gonna have to give up their seat for diversy.

“Now, the whe gay men they haven’t done anythg wrong, they haven’t failed, they’re at the top of their game, they’re dog well, and they’re beg asked to give up their seats. ”The actor don’t thk about how many people are watchg his portrayls of the powerful black men, the gay black men that is: Ken or Hap or Omar. OPINION: The late renowned actor gave tough, passnate, and nuanced reprentatns of queer men on screen an dtry that sred cis-het Black entertaers om dog first time I saw a believable Black gay man on televisn was watchg the character of Omar Ltle, played by the late Michael K.