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

Contents:

• MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS PHED FOR MORE GAY INTIMACY ON ‘THE WIRE’: ‘YOU KNOW GAY PEOPLE F*CK, RIGHT?’
• MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS PHED FOR MORE TIMATE GAY SCEN FOR OMAR ON THE WIRE: 'WE SHOULD GO ALL '
• HOW THE WIRE'S OMAR STAR FOUGHT FOR GAY REPRENTATN IN THE HBO SHOW
• OMAR LTLE ON ‘THE WIRE’ WAS ONE OF TV’S FIRST GAY SUPERHERO
• HOW THE WIRE’S OMAR LTLE CHALLENGED GAY STEREOTYP MEDIA
• MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS WISHED ‘THE WIRE’ WENT ‘ALL IN’ ON OMAR’S INTIMACY: ‘YOU KNOW GAY PEOPLE F—, RIGHT?’
• OMAR LTLE IS THE GAY STICK-UP MAN WHO ROBS DG ALERS FOR A LIVG THE WIRE
• MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS ON ‘THE WIRE’: I WANTED MORE GAY SCEN FOR OMAR

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

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?

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

Williams phed for more timate gay scen for Omar on The Wire: 'We should go all ' "You know gay people f---, right? Williams ma wav wh his portrayal of openly gay stickup man Omar Ltle on HBO's grty, Emmy-wng crime drama The Wire.

I thk the directors were sred, and I said to one of them, 'You know gay people f---, right?

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

In the memoir, the actor, who did not intify as gay, exprsed that he was origally ncerned about portrayg the character.

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

"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, " he explaed. 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. 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.

HOW THE WIRE’S OMAR LTLE CHALLENGED GAY STEREOTYP MEDIA

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. 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 .

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.

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

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. "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.

OMAR LTLE IS THE GAY STICK-UP MAN WHO ROBS DG ALERS FOR A LIVG THE WIRE

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.

Kurt Hummel Show: Glee Performer: Chris Colfer Episos: 121 (2009 - 2015) Ryan Murphy's visn for Glee clud, among many (MANY) other thgs, takg on issu of gay acceptance and teen bullyg, and while not the only gay character on the show, Kurt was the vsel through which Murphy's msag were most often livered. Kurt's teen romance wh Blae (Darren Criss) was the first full-blown gay teen romance that fans uld 'ship the same way they did for Joey/Pacey and Seth/Summer. That Tumblr-iendly fan-thiasm for a gay uple would have been unfathomable on a work seri even five years prr, makg Kurt a bean of changg tim.

Jodie Dallas Show: Soap Performer: Billy Crystal Episos: 76 (1977 - 1981) As the first long-nng gay character televisn, Jodie Dallas paved the way for every other character on this list. Jodie's creatn was ght wh cricism om both sis, though, as relig and gay rights groups objected to Soap's handlg of gay them. Relig groups didn't want the s to clu gay them at all and they anized a boytt of the show before even aired.

MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS ON ‘THE WIRE’: I WANTED MORE GAY SCEN FOR OMAR

The Gay Media Task Force was upset wh the show's nflagratn of gay men and trans people Jodie's ial storyle. Still, Soap kept up a "tell, don't show" pictn of Jodie's sexualy throughout his many years on televisn, makg sure that viewers always knew he was gay...

Lafayette Reynolds Show: Te Blood Performer: Nelsan Ellis Episos: 81 (2008 - 2014) Wh the stereotyp of Sassy Black Friend and Sassy Gay Friend still alive and well popular culture, the character of Lafayette was ripe for tokenism. Max Blum Show: Happy Endgs Performer: Adam Pally Episos: 57 (2011 - 2013) It's a shame Happy Endgs only held on for three seasons, bee Adam Pally's gmpy, lazy, and slouchy gay man was unlike any other gay character a work s.