Jay Pharoah, Derek Luke, Algee Smith and more discuss Hollywood’s issue with telling Black stories

The centering of whiteness both in front of and behind the camera in Hollywood is as old as establishment itself. While there has been slow progress, the ongoing whitewashing of characters, recurring white saviour trope and overwhelmingly white-focused recognition at prestige awards ceremonies (#OscarsSoWhite?) continue to highlight the barriers still facing creatives of colour. With mainstream attention finally shifting to crucial discussions of race, representation and injustice, actors Jay Pharoah, Derek Luke, Algee Smith, Aldis Hodge and Chris Chalk are talking about what causes are most important to them both as Black men living in America and Black actors in Hollywood.The five entertainers gathered for a virtual roundtable with Variety journalist and Emmy winner Angelique Jackson to have an honest conversation about issues big and small they face both onset and off. Discussing everything from what it means to play slaves or thugs on screen to advocating for equal care in hair and makeup, they also touch on experiences with racism outside of work, including Pharoah’s recent detainment by police.

 

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The main catalyst for the discussion stemmed from Smith's IG Live at the end of May. Following the death of George Floyd, Smith, who starred in 2018’s The Hate U Give and the first season of HBO’s Euphoria, went on Instagram Live to denounce his past roles, announcing he would no longer play characters that were regressive depictions of Black men. He said at the time, "I want to play a role that's edifying a Black man.""I was obviously in a very emotional place. However, it was a very honest place,” he explained to his fellow actors. “I feel like I’ve played so many roles where I’ve either died as a young black teenager or where it’s been something that hasn’t been edifying a black teenager or a black man at all. And so, I was like, for myself, 'I’m tired of playing those roles,' and I said, ‘I’m done with it.’”Discussing the common role of "thug" for Black actors, the five men unpacked how to tell these stories, noting that who is telling the story is critical to whether it is worthy of being told.“Is this project going to serve to elevate the perception of my culture or does it serve the detriment of my culture? That’s a responsibility that we carry and it’s often the risk we take as entertainers given our portrayal,” said Hodge. “Here’s my stance on the thug thing. If it is somebody’s idealized imaginary version of what a thug is based on—‘This is what I think Black people look like"—I’m not with it. If you’re talking about a deeply conflicted human being who is in a position and is trying to do more and can’t and you want to show a struggle because there’s a full story to tell and there’s value to it, I will consider it differently.”[video_embed id='1973107']BEFORE YOU GO: Michael B. Jordan wants Hollywood to 'commit to Black hiring' [/video_embed]On the topic of playing a slave on screen, 13 Reasons Why actor Derek Luke said that he has made a conscious decision to avoid those roles. “My instinct was that it was traumatic enough being in my skin. It was traumatic enough coming to Hollywood and having to come through playing a thug or a gangster role. My spiritual lens is always like: how do I navigate in a space that may reject my face?” said Luke.Chalk, who is currently starring on HBO’s Perry Mason and previously appeared on Underground and 2013’s Oscar-winning film 12 Years of Slave, countered Luke's comments. “How many Holocaust stories have we seen and how creative are they now? We have to get that free with our narrative because it isn’t our pain, it’s our glory. To hide it and run away from what we have been through is their power over us because we are afraid to investigate it,” he said.Continuing on the topic, Chalk expanded on the heavy emotional and mental burden of portraying characters, both historical and fictional, who are combating the inhumanity of racism. He calls it a "blessing" to have the opportunity to tell stories that have largely been ignored. “We deal with it for six weeks. If that six weeks of me not sleeping from my 12 Years a Slave or Detroit or Underground, if that helps tell our story and helps us realize that we are not weak, that we survived an attempted genocide, that we are kings and queens and we are the strongest. They’re switching the narrative that we are weak, we are thugs and they’re making a huge effort to do it because they can’t kill us. They’ve tried.”The discussion also moved to the issues once you're on the set, like the fact most hair and makeup departments don't include staff who know what to do with Black hair and darker skin tones. Pharoah revealed that during his six seasons on SNL, there was never an in-house barber to cut and style his hair. Instead, the comedian had to make arrangements to have his hair done by the same barber used by The Tonight Show house band The Roots, who also filmed in 30 Rockefeller. Chalk said he, too, was made a series regular on a show that didn’t provide a hairdresser who knew how to style his hair. Eventually, Chalk asked his wife to cut his hair while filming instead.“Why are the tools needed, the assets needed to be required for you to do your best work not provided?” asked Hodge. “When you walk into a situation where it just smacks of the fact that you’re not considered, it is spiritually and emotionally taxing. Hair and makeup is not the only area where it is majorly lacking when it comes to going into work every single day to do a job that you love to do, working in an environment that is constantly reminding you that you are not as important as everyone else there only because you are Black.” The actors also discussed ongoing instances of police brutality and systemic racism, particularly Pharoah's recent involvement in an all-too-familiar scenario: Black man is dehumanized by police. In June, Pharoah was stopped at gunpoint by four police officers while jogging in Los Angeles. Forced to the ground and handcuffed, one of the officers put their knee on Pharoah’s neck—the same position Derek Chauvin took on George Floyd's neck for eight minutes and forty-six seconds. The comedian talked about the terrifying ordeal, which he recreated in an emotionally jarring video uploaded to his Instagram. "I could have been George Floyd," he said in the video. "We, as a country, can't breathe anymore."“We’re talking about basic human civility here,” Pharoah elaborated in the roundtable. “The right to walk down the street and not feel like a criminal; to be innocent until proven guilty, not guilty until proven innocent... Innocent Black people do get profiled and that's what needs to stop.” He added that reenacting the encounter brought back all the trauma of the actual moment, "It was emotional--that same infuriation came up. It's just, you're reliving it again."Quoting a friend who remarked on the irony of the Black Lives Matter movement having a huge global moment in the year 2020, which means perfect vision, Hodge also spoke to current climate, including the new wave of non-Black people finally gaining some understanding of how deeply systemic racism is embedded in every facet of society. “A lot of people are able to see clearly what we’ve been talking about for so long. Now the question is, what can you do about it?”[video_embed id='1999858']BEFORE YOU GO: Idris Elba to get special BAFTA TV award [/video_embed]