HBO star and producer Issa Rae is creating content for bisexual black men, and dealing with trolls because of it.
The Insecure star announced earlier that she would be executive producing a new HBO comedy series about the dating life of a bisexual, black man titled Him and Her. When she did, she was instantly hit with pushback online.
While Rae played it off like all the hate hadn’t gotten to her, she has now revealed in an interview with Deadline that she was affected.
“I remember just being pissed all day,” she said. “Sometimes you live in a bubble, you live in a liberal bubble where you think that everyone is open, and in my eyes progressive in a way where there are so many human experiences, black experiences, gender experiences. There are so many stories to tell. The fear that a story like that would be told when it’s the story of so many other people is just absolutely ridiculous. The censorship and the idea that black men can’t be all things and still be black men is just absurd, it is.”
Opposition aside, Issa Rae is committed to helping to bring this tv show to life. While she didn’t come up with the idea herself, we have comedian Travon Free to thank for that, she believes in the story.
“Travon Free—the writer, the creator of the project—approached us with it,” Rae says. “And he said [an] episode of Insecure was a first time that he had felt like his story was being told in a way. And that conversation reflected so much of his personal experience. We were looking for fresh voices and he pitched that, and it really excited me, because I’ve just never seen anything on TV like that. I’m just rooting for his show.”
But let’s not forget that Issa Rae’s also a rising star in Hollywood who’s constantly busy with other projects.
After having her web series The Misadventures of An Awkward Black Girl discovered by Hollywood execs, Issa Rae was able to create the hit HBO series Insecure. She has then become a household name in most of America and especially in Black neighborhoods.
Now, she’s a busy worker bee who’s not only executive producing Him and Her, but she’s producing another HBO series about rich black teenagers from Windsor Hills, L.A. titled Sweet Life, acting in three different movies titled The Hate U Give, Little, and Empress of Serenity, and working on several social projects.
Issa Rae is working hard in the business, but she’s still committed to telling interesting and dynamic stories. We can’t wait for Him and Her.
h/t: GayPopBuzz