Michael K. Williams on ‘The Wire’: I Wanted More Gay Scen for Omar – IndieWire

Contents:

• MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS WISHED ‘THE WIRE’ WENT ‘ALL IN’ ON OMAR’S INTIMACY: ‘YOU KNOW GAY PEOPLE F—, RIGHT?’
• IS MICHAEL K WILLIAMS GAY? FANS WONR ABOUT TRIPLE 9 AND THE WIRE ACTOR
• MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS PHED FOR MORE TIMATE GAY SCEN FOR OMAR ON THE WIRE: 'WE SHOULD GO ALL '
• MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS WIFE, NET WORTH, DGS, GAY, SON, GIRLIEND, WIKI, AGE, FAY, GAY SCENE, OBUARY, INSTAGRAM
• IS MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS GAY?
• GAY BLACK MEN RARELY SAW THEMSELV ON SCREEN. MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS CHANGED THAT.
• MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS PHED FOR MORE GAY INTIMACY ON ‘THE WIRE’: ‘YOU KNOW GAY PEOPLE F*CK, RIGHT?’
• MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS WASN'T GAY BUT HE SURELY PUT ON FOR QUEER BLACK PEOPLE
• MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS WIFE, GAY, NET WORTH

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

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. 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.

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

“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.

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

Fans wonr: Is Michael K Williams gay?

MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS WIFE, NET WORTH, DGS, GAY, SON, GIRLIEND, WIKI, AGE, FAY, GAY SCENE, OBUARY, INSTAGRAM

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. Wh full knowledge of his homosexualy, the streets nohels feared and rpected him.

IS MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS GAY?

Before his untimely ath, Williams was the favore to w an Emmy for his portrayal of Montrose Freeman, a closeted gay father, the Black science fictn masterpiece “Lovecraft Country” (which has sce been nceled). They n see Omar Ltle and know that beg Black and gay and dark-skned and artistic is betiful, somethg to be embraced and celebrated – not jt after the whole world fds value your life, but long before. This op-ed has been rrected to reflect that, as the New York Tim reported 2017, Williams did not intify as gay.

The novelist Nick Hornby likened the show’s mocratic and lourful dramatis personae – dg kgps and street-rner alers, ps and policians, hacks and teachers – to eccentric figure towered above the rt: Omar Ltle, the gay, dandyish highwayman who gets his kicks, and his sh, om robbg the mighty, murro Barksdale clan. )An unapologetilly gay character, let alone one whose sex life is shown wh such ankns, was a novelty the macho hothoe of the TV crime genre. “That’s not an endorsement – he is not my favoure person – but he’s a fascatg character: a gay gangster who only robs dg alers, and then giv back, sort of a Rob Hood.

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

And he’s the tought, badst guy on the show, but he’s gay. “A gay man who don’t like fancy cloth or fancy rs, don’t do dgs, don’t even curse, and robs the most gangster dg alers the muny.

Omar was also gay.

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

”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.

MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS WASN'T GAY BUT HE SURELY PUT ON FOR QUEER BLACK PEOPLE

”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.

MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS WIFE, GAY, NET WORTH

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.