EXPLORING
BLACK CULTURE
& HUMAN SEXUALITY territory on television in P-Valley by normalizing eroticism between a straight and gay male.
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emphis-native and Oliver Award-winning playwright, Katori Hall is the talk of the town. Her new television series P-Valley was unleashed on Starz on July 12, 2020 and has taken the summer television lineup by storm. The series is an enduring saga of money, power, and respect; takes place in the Mississippi Delta in the fictional town of Chucalissa. Hall’s unique choice of writing style centers itself in the prophetic tradition of black southern folklore writers such as Zora Neale Hurston and is most importantly, written from a womanist perspective. Each character in the story bends the arc of the politics of respectability in black culture and exposes the complexities of human sexuality. The most scintillating storyline of the series involves the taboo sexual relationship between the non-binary character Uncle
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Clifford, played by rising actor Nico Annan and straight local rapper and hustler Lil’ Murda, portrayed by J. Alphonse Nicholson. The mixed reaction from viewers has sparked a firestorm of controversy on social media concerning ideals of black masculinity and how those perceptions shape and influence public opinion. In real life, both Uncle Clifford and Lil’ Murda are caricatures of black popular culture that exists in the minds of the mainstream population. On one hand, genderqueer Uncle Clifford is familiar to the audience and is largely accepted for her flamboyant personality and acute sense of women’s fashion. On the other hand, Lil’ Murda is vehemently rejected. Lil’ Murda’s persona represents heteronormative thug appeal; he is hypermasculine, very attractive and has the respect of everyone around the town of Chucalissa. In Episode 1: Perpetratin’, Katori Hall takes us into unchartered
From the moment of Lil’ Murda and Uncle Clifford’s first encounter, there is an element of danger that we in the LGBTQIA community sense. In Episode 2: Scars, Lil’ Murda breaks in Uncle Clifford’s car to discuss their previous arrangement to play his music in the club. Uncle Clifford pleads with him to go ahead and kill her and get it over with. According to the Human Rights Campaign, in 2019 there were 27 murders of non-binary and transgender people in the United States reported, majority of whom were African American. Could Uncle Clifford’s insecurities about pursuing a romantic love interest be a result of unchecked trauma and violence perpetuated against gay and lesbian people? Nico Annan stated in an interview with TV Guide that playing the role of Uncle Clifford caused him to check over his own prejudices and assumptions about how this relationship would unfold. Annan stated: “I realized how conditioned I had been as a gay man.” Club Pynk is a space reserved for heterosexual men to gather for entertainment. Despite her proprietorship, Uncle Clifford enters that private space and disrupts societal norms by engaging in a romantic relationship with a man who is largely desired by women. This is a forbidden liaison. The sex scene set into motion a huge public debate on its appropriateness. Katori Hall took to Twitter on
