The activist and grandson of the Hollywood legend tails his first gay sexual experience his new memoir, A Tale of Two Omars. Read an exclive excerpt here.
Contents:
- MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS PHED FOR MORE GAY INTIMACY ON ‘THE WIRE’: ‘YOU KNOW GAY PEOPLE F*CK, RIGHT?’
- HOW THE WIRE'S OMAR STAR FOUGHT FOR GAY REPRENTATN IN THE HBO SHOW
- RE-WATCHG OMAR: MOHA, BLACK GAYNS AND SHIFTG MEDIA RECEPTN ALED L. MART, JR. / UNIVERSY OF IOWA
- OMAR LTLE ON ‘THE WIRE’ WAS ONE OF TV’S FIRST GAY SUPERHERO
- WAS OMAR GAY ON THE WIRE | EVERYTHG YOU NEED TO KNOW
- OMAR GAY V. AMY PARSONS, ET AL, NO. 21-16906 (9TH CIR. 2023)
MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS PHED FOR MORE GAY INTIMACY ON ‘THE WIRE’: ‘YOU KNOW GAY PEOPLE F*CK, RIGHT?’
In his new memoir, the Emmy nomee and "Wire" star Michael K. Williams addrsed the portrayal of his gay character Omar. * omar 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.
HOW THE WIRE'S OMAR STAR FOUGHT FOR GAY REPRENTATN IN THE HBO SHOW
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.
RE-WATCHG OMAR: MOHA, BLACK GAYNS AND SHIFTG MEDIA RECEPTN ALED L. MART, JR. / UNIVERSY OF IOWA
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?
Wh full knowledge of his homosexualy, the streets nohels feared and rpected him.
OMAR LTLE ON ‘THE WIRE’ WAS ONE OF TV’S FIRST GAY SUPERHERO
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.
Williams tails how he fought for The Wire to feature more scen of gay timacy. "You know gay people f--k, right? The five-time Emmy nomee wrote that he wasn't so sure about playg a gay man at first bee of the stereotyp that he grew up wh.
WAS OMAR GAY ON THE WIRE | EVERYTHG YOU NEED TO KNOW
Moha’s “Labels” episo was wrten by Demetri Bady, a Black gay wrer who had pched the episo Season 1 of the seri. While the 1990s has been herald as the “Gay 90s” bee of the number of lbian and gay characters across the televisual landspe, much of the s reprentatn was episodic. Carter Heywood, Sp Cy’s (ABC, 1996-2002) Black gay head of Mory Affairs, had jt premiered earlier that season on September 17, 1996.
Wh rpect to Black gay characters wh Black-st (or primarily Black-st) televisn, there had been only four such characters wh Black-st televisn history before Omar: Travis, a Black gay civil rights attorney on an episo of Sanford Arms (NBC, 1977), Rsell, a Black gay magaze wrer and uncle to the seri’ tular character, appeared four episos of Roc (Fox, 1991-1994), and Antoe Merriweather and Blae Edwards as Black gay cultural crics the “Men On…” sketch on In Livg Color (Fox, 1990-1994).
As I argue my forthg book, Black gay characters were largely absent om the “Gay 90s” bee of an dtrial imagatn of Black dienc as anti-gay.
OMAR GAY V. AMY PARSONS, ET AL, NO. 21-16906 (9TH CIR. 2023)
” On the one hand, @brandonkarsonj acknowledg the very personal nature of g out as gay. Televisn, whether whe- or Black-st programmg, has a propensy to suggt that if a heterosexual character spects a character’s gayns, that they mt not only know, but be ready to disclose that rmatn (as if they have a right to know). When Omar ref her kiss, she tells her iends Kim and Niecy that Omar is gay.
Instead, producers Ralph Farquhar and Ron Neal troduce Tracey, Omar’s flamboyantly gay iend to provi a reason for Moha to thk Omar might be gay. As @TonSpeaks says, “They brought this character out of nowhere, he’s gay, and they throw him back to some abyss. Moral of the story, Moha is homophobic.
” It is unclear if @TonSpeaks believ the character or the seri is homophobic, but two thgs are clear. First, this er pots to the ways Moha and the Black-st s e a generic closet to shape the ways Black gay narrativ n velop.