In a wide-ranging feature interview for his GQ Man of the Year cover story, Michael B. Jordan is clarifying some recent comments about Black mythology that made waves on social media.
“I meant we don’t have Black mythologies and folklore that’s on the big screen and small screen, period,” he told the magazine, saying that this part of the quote was missing when it went viral. He continued, “I want to help bring those to the masses, the same stories, bedtime stories, that I was being told of Anansi the Spider and the story of Hannibal and Mansa Musa and all these historical figures!”
On the backlash he said, “I’m human. I’ve got people, friends or whatever, in my life that always want to give me the news and the scoop.”
The actor also spoke at length about his rapid expansion into producing and creating projects, opportunities and roles behind-the-scenes. “You feel like you’re pitted against each other, in hindsight. I was like, ‘Damn! Everybody should be able to, like, work and grow and eat together. We’re not. Well, then, I guess there’s not enough roles.’ I guess the only logical thing to do is to create more roles,” he said.
Now, Jordan and his agent, Phillip Sun, have a specific plan for approaching roles. “Obviously, there are certain roles in film and television that are specifically African-American, usually period pieces. But why, if he were just an actor, why would he be limited to only those roles? He was like, ‘Why should other people be held back like that? Why shouldn’t stories from different points of view be told more frequently? What is holding people back from doing that?’ And at the end of the day, we all know in Hollywood: It’s star power. If you have the star that wants to lead the way in that way, they’re going to do it,” said Sun.
Check out the full feature story at GQ.
Jordan is currently filming the legal thriller Just Mercy with Jamie Foxx and Brie Larson, and Creed II will be released over the Thanksgiving holiday.
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