When it comes to celebrating the living legends who’ve graced our television screens throughout the years, we have a lot of flowers to give. We’d be remiss if we didn’t honor folks like Oprah Winfrey, Wendy Williams, Tamron Hall and many others, but do you know who else deserves their flowers? Mr. Carlos King, himself. In May, Carlos debuted his new late-night series The Nightcap With Carlos King on OWN. Of course, we were already privy to the brilliance that is Carlos King long before this with his extensive resume of production credits, but this is different. Carlos is the first openly gay, Black man to host a late-night talk show, and he deserves every bit of praise.
Representation
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Growing up, I cannot recall seeing any Black men who were openly gay be represented in the media. I especially didn’t see them hosting television shows. In May, when I saw the first episode of King’s new show, I became filled with emotion.
Here was this talented Black man who stands authentically in truth, hosting his very own television show. It’s always been my dream to be a talk show host with my platform, but that dream became harder to conceptualize since I hadn’t seen it before — until now. Many queer folks in the Black community are encouraged to suppress our most authentic selves to accommodate the masses of discriminatory folks who spew hatred towards the LGBTQ+ community.
It’s often ingrained in us to curb our luminosity to accommodate hatred and insecurities. When I see Carlos shining like the star he is, interviewing some of the biggest names in Hollywood, I hope I can do that, too — all while being myself.
His authenticity
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Another reason that I admire Carlos’ drive and passion is because he’s from Detroit, like myself. The art of hustle and chasing one’s dreams is a secret language shared among Detroiters because it’s what we’re excellent at. There’s a certain je ne sai quoi about a Detroiter’s ability to face all the odds against us while never wavering in who we are or what we stand for.
This trait is evident in Mr. King, who shows up as himself in each episode with his growing lineup of guests. Whether he’s chatting with Monique Samuels about the happenings on Love & Marriage: DC or speaking with former castmates of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, you can count on Carlos to keep it accurate. In a time when many people opt to change who they are to fit an Instagram aesthetic or go viral, it’s refreshing to see real people living out their dreams.
How he inspires others
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We’ve made great strides in eradicating queerphobia in the Black community, but we aren’t there yet. There are still many of our cishet community members who’d prefer we were nonexistent, so they don’t have to deal with internalized anti-Blackness. But, that isn’t happening. We’re not going anywhere.
When younger Black LGBTQ+ people see individuals like Carlos living his dreams on his own accord, that can inspire them to do the same. Sometimes, the push we need to go after our dreams lies in the empowerment we get from seeing others doing the same, especially people we can relate to. Following your heart’s desires can be difficult, especially when in the public eye, so I salute Carlos for doing that while bringing us right along the journey.
The importance of following your dreams
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Pride month may be at a close, but we need to continue honoring our living queer legends. I hope we continue to see more people like Carlos King inspire the next generation to work hard and live fearlessly. Whether the world decides to be more accepting of queer people, it means to me that we are still able to persist and bring each other up while doing so. Whether Carlos knows, he just created a blueprint that many queer people need. And for that, I thank him.
