Arts & Entertainment, Article Joshua Alston Arts & Entertainment, Article Joshua Alston

'Demascus': The Revolution Will Be…on Tubi?!

Tubi’s “Demascus” upends TV norms, blending sci-fi, comedy, and therapy to deeply explore Black masculinity and vulnerability. Writer, Josha Alston, argues that the show is a fresh, essential vision for Black storytelling, revealing how real revolution comes when platforms dare to center authentic voices and complex emotional journeys.

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Arts & Entertainment Joshua Alston Arts & Entertainment Joshua Alston

In 'Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show,' A Black Comedian Imagines His Queer Identity

As anyone who’s ever had a fulfilling hookup app experience can attest, even the most contrived and artificial scenarios can yield moments of genuine connection and intimacy. Jerrod Carmichael has plenty of those moments in “Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show,” his new Max project chronicling the comedian’s biennial whirlwind.

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Arts & Entertainment, Article Dionne Walker-Bing Arts & Entertainment, Article Dionne Walker-Bing

Progress or Nawl? Television’s Black Queer Renaissance Faces Bumps In The Road

With a bearded, high-heeled Saucy Santana featured in mainstream music videos and a pony-tailed Billy Porter hosting ballroom legends on the BET Awards, it’s become easy to think that the Black queer man has claimed his seat at the mainstream table. It took just one cable show and a blink-and-you’d-miss-it sex scene to prove otherwise.

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Arts & Entertainment Dionne Walker-Bing Arts & Entertainment Dionne Walker-Bing

Out From The Shadows: 'Rothaniel' Brings Comedian’s Sexuality, Community Hypocrisy Into the Spotlight

While much of heterosexual Black America has spent the spring debating the impact of Will Smith’s slap, a quieter event has taken precedence in the minds of many Black gay men: The April 1 release of “Jerrod Carmichael: Rothaniel,” comedian Jerrod Carmichael’s latest HBO special and, unexpectedly, his coming out story.

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Arts & Entertainment Darian Aaron Arts & Entertainment Darian Aaron

Black Gay Couple, ‘Forks & Flavors’ Owners Set To Make TV Debut On Food Network's ‘Restaurant Impossible’

Married couple David Wilmott and Darnell Morgan, co-owners of the successful Kennesaw, GA restaurant “Forks & Flavors,” will step onto the national stage during their television debut on the May 12 episode of “Restaurant Impossible” on the Food Network.

The Chef Robert Irvine-hosted reality show, now in its 19th season, works to turn around restaurants that are facing impending demise within 48 hours on a $10,000 budget. On day one, Irvine assesses the business by observing the staff and kitchen during a full service. He then updates the menu and makes aesthetic changes to the restaurant in preparation for the grand reopening the following day.

But there’s one thing that separates “Forks & Flavors” from the majority of restaurants in crisis that have appeared on the show; they are thriving.

The twice-married gay couple who first appeared in a feature story on The Reckoning in March 2021, says they experienced a significant increase in business after their story was published, with old and new customers clamoring to experience their cuisine or to get the tea on their interesting relationship journey directly from the source. So when Morgan says the Food Network contacted them in August 2021, to apply to be on “Restaurant Impossible,” instead of the other way around, it’s not surprising.

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Arts & Entertainment Darian Aaron Arts & Entertainment Darian Aaron

Bravo Invites Black Matchmakers Into Spotlight In LGBTQ Inclusive Reality Series ‘Love Match Atlanta’

Dating in Atlanta is serious business. While many singles are swiping left or right on dating apps to find their person, those who can afford to are turning to Atlanta’s elite matchmakers to find love. And Black gay men are no exception.

On “Love Match Atlanta,” the new reality show debuting on Bravo on May 8, viewers are given a look into the professional and personal lives of a group of highly-sought after matchmakers as they use their charm and skill to compete for the hearts and dollars of Black Atlanta’s most eligible singles. The cast includes professional matchmakers and business owners Ming Clark, Joseph Dixon, Kelli Fisher, Tana Gilmore, and Shae Primus.

In a city that has developed a reputation for simultaneously being an oasis of Black wealth and opportunity, and for some Black gay men, a consistent disaapointement where quantity outweighs quality in terms of finding a potential partner, the dating experiences of both gay and straight singles in Atlanta provides more than enough source material for the one-hour show.

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Arts & Entertainment Darian Aaron Arts & Entertainment Darian Aaron

‘For The Boys’ Is The Black Queer Web Series We’ve Been Waiting For

Ever so often, a piece of art is created that causes a cultural shift—an unexpected, yet welcomed reflection of the lived experiences of a segment of society that is often overlooked, if not outright dismissed by media gatekeepers. “For The Boys,” the hit SLAY TV web series now streaming on YouTube from co-creators Mekhai Lee and Ellis Dawson, is filling the void of Black queer representation on a scale that has surpassed similar projects online, and is inching closer to achieving the kind of cultural impact on a new generation of Black queer audiences not seen since the early 2000s.

“For The Boys” follows three Black queer best friends as they navigate the intoxicating and exhausting minefield of love and friendship in New York City. Set in Brooklyn, the series follows the lives of Anthony (Chandler Bryant), Jamal (Andrew Coleman), and Syed (Lamont Walker II), each on their own roads to personal self-discovery and fulfilling relationships.

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Arts & Entertainment Ben Robinson III Arts & Entertainment Ben Robinson III

W. Wesley Henderson’s ‘WatchACTV’ Is A Game-Changer In Digital Content Creation

The term “Black Hollywood'' gets tossed around often in Atlanta. With so many people acting, directing, and producing their own content, it becomes easy to get overwhelmed by the immense amount of talent Atlanta offers, especially within the Black and Brown LGBTQ+ community. Creatives are staking their claim on the vast abundance of representation and visibility. Though, sometimes the voices become oversaturated with one-dimensional characters and repetitive stories. This is where content creator W. Wesley Henderson enters the conversation.

With his own streaming network, WatchACTV (aka Aconnectiontv), the Atlanta-based writer, director, and producer has been engaging audiences with his specific brand of content for years. Henderson’s roots reach back to the infancy of YouTube before it became a powerhouse within the online content creation realm, but before then Henderson was a young Black gay kid trying to make sense of what set him apart from the other kids in his neighborhood.

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Arts & Entertainment Darian Aaron Arts & Entertainment Darian Aaron

iElevate+ TV Set To Bring Black LGBTQ+ Content, Storytellers To A Global Audience

In between breaks on the red carpet at the July 1 launch party of iElevate+ TV, a new Black LGBTQ+ on-demand live streaming platform, CEO OC Allen III emphasized that the time is now for a digital space to center Black LGBTQ+ content and storytellers.

A throng of supporters filed into "Book Boutique," a new Black-owned bookstore inside Atlantic Station to celebrate the beginning of an exciting era in Black LGBTQ+ entrepreneurship and collaboration. The event preceded the holiday weekend sneak peek that gave viewers a glimpse of the content Allen and his team have curated over the last six months—setting the stage for underrepresented Black LGBTQ+ content to be seen on a global stage to an underserved audience.

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Love & Relationships Darian Aaron Love & Relationships Darian Aaron

Through The Fire: Quincy & Deondray Gossfield Open Up About Their 24-Year Romance

“I’m gonna get hurt.”

That’s what Deondray Gossfield, 47, recalls saying to himself in the fall of 1996 after meeting Quincy Gossfield, 46, through mutual friends. Together for 24 years and married for seven, the directing/producing duo behind the indie hit gay series The DL Chronicles, has experienced magical highs and devastating lows in their decade's long relationship—long before their nuptials were televised in front of an audience of millions at the 2014 Grammy Awards, and long before they became the public face of Black gay relationship longevity.

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Arts & Entertainment Darian Aaron Arts & Entertainment Darian Aaron

Victor Jackson Is Black, Queer, And Living His Purpose, One Eight-Count At A Time

Victor Jackson’s father tossed his first pair of ballet shoes into the trash. It was a failed attempt to derail his son’s desire to study dance, restrict access to what he believed to be queer affirming spaces, and to suppress a noticeably burgeoning queer identity. It didn’t work. But that didn’t stop his minister father from trying, nor did it extinguish Jackson’s fire for an artform that would catapult him into his purpose. When Jackson saw his ballet shoes in the trash, which were purchased at Goodwill and gifted to him by his babysitter, he said he knew that he’d be solely responsible for finding ways to receive the training he needed and to create ways to learn and to lean into his passion.

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