Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Overcoming the Odds: P-Valley star Uncle Clifford's Nicco Annan discusses LGBTQ representation.

Transcript

Overcoming the Odds: P-Valley star Uncle Clifford's Nicco Annan discusses LGBTQ representation. · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: If you're about to make a change in your life
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: and you feel uncomfortable, that's the best feeling you can
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: have because for the first time in your life, you'll
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: make a new decision that's going to be best for
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: you and not what somebody told you to do. And
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: that's when all bets are off. Welcome to Money Making
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Conversation Masterclass. I'm your host, Rashaan McDonald. Our theme is
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: there's no perfect time to start following your dreams. I
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: recognize that we all have different definitions of success. For
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: you and maybe decide to your HM, it's time to
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: stop reading other people's success stories to start living your own.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Keep winning. People always talk about their purpose or gifts.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: If you have a gift, leave with your gifts and
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: they'll let your friends, family, or co worker stop you
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: from planning or living your dreams. My guess is Nathaniel
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: and Nicole Anden was born on an army base in
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Germany to a black Southern woman born and a West
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: African man from God. Nicole, as he's affectionately known, was
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: raised in Detroit, Michigan, the Mota City. He dismistifies the
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: myths around Southern black men, black gay men, and those
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: identifying in the non binary space and if they live
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: four lives that they can lead. Nico originated the role
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: of Uncle Clifford and the popular show Pea Valley and
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: play that character since twenty eleven. Today, he is the
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: only character that played Uncle Clifford as well as on
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: the television show Pea Valley. Pea Valley, If you don't know,
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: It's an engrossing drama of family, friendship and survival. This
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: season is ritually crafted. Characters deal with sacrifice, ethical dilemmas, identity, family, love, trust,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: and betrayal, while also facing the aftermass of the decisions
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: from season one. Please work for the money making Conversation
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: masterclass for the first time, Nico, Aman, how you doing,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: my friend.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: I'm great, I'm great. Thank you so much for having
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: me here. Well, first of all, its first time. Hopefully
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: won't be the oh.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: No, no, no no, I'll be mad with you if
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: you're the last, because you are you are a star.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: You are a star. You are an individual. Brother, you
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: know you're an individual. That Let's let's talk about the character,
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: because you know in your bio that said you've been
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: playing this character or character like this since twenty eleven.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: So that means that character did not originate on the
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: television series. I've seen you've been playing it before. That
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: give us some background history on your character and how
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: did they get to that point, because, like I said,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: you know, because you have some great you know, designs
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: and your beard and all that stuff that you're not
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: wearing right now. I have a beard. I remember I
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: did the movie. They cut my beard a certain way,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: and so let's let's talk about that character developed, because
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: I'm sure it was inspired a lot by your own imagination.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: It was inspired a lot by my own imagination, but
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: primarily from Katori Hall's imagination. Katori Hall as our showrunner
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: and the creator of this universe that she has here
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: but here in p Valley. This actually started a little
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: earlier than twenty eleven. Back in two thousand and yeah.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: I was living in New York at the time. I
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: was an actor, I was choreographing and directing, so I
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: was doing all three and I was in between gigs
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: and I received an invitation to go to Victoria's house
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: and she was having a salon series. She used to
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: have this thing called black Mondays because in the theater
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: it's dark on Monday. In theater language, we say it's
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: black because all the lights are off. And so what
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: happened was she was she had a writing fellowship at
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: the Lark Theater Company, It's an off Broadway house in
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: New York, and through that Salon series, it was a
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: group of writers, actors, musicians that just got together to
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: read or talk about their ideas and new material that
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: they had and a collective so to speak, kind of
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: like James baldwins or in the Hurston you know, the
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: Renaissance group back in the day. They were creating their
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: own version of that. And essentially what happened there was
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: a lot of networking that was happening across the platform
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: among all these different black artists. It was not necessarily
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: somewhat none of us at the time were on Broadway
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: or had big major motion picture deals. It literally was
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: about conversation and who is it that has points of
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: access and just different ideas. So one of her co
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: writers in the fellowship, Dominique Mariso, who they both since
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: have been like Tony Award nominations and all these accreditations
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: and awards decorating them, she said, I'm looking for a
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: person that kind of houses this feminine energy yet a
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: masculine energy. I have this idea for this character, and
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: it was all these things. And when I got there,
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: there were five pages. Man, there were five pages, and
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: almost five pages only two of them Uncle Clifford was in.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: There was two different scenes and it was a description
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: of Uncle Clifford emerging from the shadows of the club.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: Eyelashes like butterfly wings, and nails like ego talents, Uncle Clifford.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: And so that's how it all started.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: Now, how tall are you because you're you're you're not
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: a small guest to six two?
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: Okay, cool, I'm definitely a man of size. You know
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: what I'm saying. As they say corn brand fed.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Like I said, you know, because your body was introduced
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: into pilot, you know what I'm saying. When you was
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: you know, saw that rear look and everything so so nudity,
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: that was nudity. How did you feel? Was it an
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: uncomfortable moment for you? You have to prepare for that moment.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: Talk about that in the pilot. See, I think you.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: Always have to prepare for any person that you know.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: You know that as an artist in general, where you
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: are using your body to tell the story. You're using
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: your soul to tell the story. I know as an
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: artist I am especially I'm gonna tell you this being
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: a man of a certain age. I think in my
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: twenties it was it could have maybe messed me up
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: a little bit more because it was more into the
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: constraints of what people sought I should be. Right. But
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: I'm a grown man now, you know, the thirties. You know,
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: they've taught me how to really be who I am
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: and to have a level of self acceptance. But in
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: regards to the show and how the nudity works, it's
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: the show takes place in this club called the Pink,
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: and it's a strip club, and so we're talking about
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: these people who are marginalized and definitely have an idea.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: They know what they're doing, and they're working in the
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: sex work industry. And it just made sense that in
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: this industry there's a level of awareness and comfortability of
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: being in one's body and now stepping outside of that.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: As the actor and the artist, I had to ask
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: myself the question, and I proposed it to the producers
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: in my camera test for the series. The TV series,
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: it was more so they said, how do I feel
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: about it. And my question to them was, when was
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: the last time that you saw a full figured body,
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: male or female, dark skinned, right, being made love to
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: on the screen? Right? And I felt that that image
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: of someone being full, you know, and being shown love,
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: being made love to, being loving, I thought that that
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: was just a revolutionary visual.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: I always tell people who come on my show and
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: also the people who watch your listening to show, there's
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: a process. You know, this is never you know, you
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: have to meet with your other cast members and said
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: boundaries about what makes you feel comfortable makes that other
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: person feel comfortable, so it could feel natural. I'm sure
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: this happened with you on this series as well. Correct.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, we definitely have intimacy coaches, and the intimacy coach
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: is the interact in the media, in the middle, the
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: median that works between different actors, the directors, what the
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: script demands and how do we get there?
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: And it's really great. So I'm talking to Nico, I'm
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: calling my friend, you know, uncle Clifford. Uncle Clifford, because
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: it's somebody who comes into your life super confident, but
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: also it's surrounded by a world of people, not just women,
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: but the world of people customers who really don't don't
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: know what. They live in a fantasy world, and sometime
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: that fantasy world can be cruel. But I would tell
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: you this what I really like about this show, p Valley.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: You see the word strip, you see the word black,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: you just think you gonna see a ton of nudity,
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: And that is not the case. It's the story, it's
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: the characters, it's the is the latest the lines talk
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: about that because that's what people initially think. Correct, The
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: stereotype is when you hear black club, ship Club, you
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: hear nudity, n and that is not the case. In fact,
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: the nudity when I watched the series, it comes so
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: casual that I don't notice it because I'm so engaged
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: into the character's storyline. And that's really a blessing, correct Nico.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: It's more than a blessing. I felt like it's a
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: necessity in the way that we had to tell the story.
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: This is definitely I think that Katory really wanted to
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: make sure that there's definitely the fact that women and
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: female bodies have really been looked at and used in
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: a certain way in cinema specifically and over sexualized. But
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: here in this world. I think that there's something that
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: we call the female gaze, and that's something that's always
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: asked of people that are different directors that are coming
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: on the show. That's something that we think about as
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: a cast in the female gaze that does not only
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: pertain to the female body. But how is it that
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: you can see the world without objectification. I think that
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: through that space you get to see the athleticism of
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: these polled answers and to see what it takes to
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: physically do the things that they are doing to haul
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: themselves up this pole, to to fly around, to walk
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: on the ceiling and on clouds. That's actually the big
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: metaphor for the show, the pole. The pole. There's a
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: line that always says, sometimes rising feels like falling, and
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: falling feels like rising. So the pole is actually meant
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: to be the metaphor for life and in a way
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: that we as black people, especially Black Southerners, have existed
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: and made it through the day.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: Well, Nicole, he brought up the poll now oh tearsing
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: that Keisha, my god, don' don't get you, don't go.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: Don't move too fast, because I got to get to them.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: Outstanding credits showing and Mercedes. Okay, but let's first go
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: with Keysha. My my, my, my mind. I'm just talking
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: from an athletic stample and am I talking from a
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: sexual stample? What I'm seeing that she does on that
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: pole it has to be mouth dropping to the cast
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: and where did they find her? And what is her
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: background as an athlete? Because she has to have gymnastics
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: in her background.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: Correct?
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: Why do you say that because of the fact she's
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: so comfortable on a poll, She's flexible, she's able to
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: she's able to manipulate it because I, like I said,
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: I'm not doing it justice. You have to watch the
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: series to see what she's able to do. As far
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: as from a ballerina standpoint, she is really poet and
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: poetic on that poll. You know where Mercedes is a force.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: Not saying she's not sexual, but she's a force. It's
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: like watching a running back and a wide receiver.
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: Conversations Masterclass, hosted by Rashaan MacDonald. Money Making Conversations Masterclass
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: continues online at Moneymakingconversations Dot com and follow Money Making
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: While receiver flows, you know what I'm saying, that's Keith Sean.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: A running back can flow too, but it can hit
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: that hole and if you hit him, then you can
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: knock you off. That's Mercedes. That's right Mercedes, right, so
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: and so so you ain't gonna get me, Nico, I
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: know you're gonna get me. I watched you show.
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: No, I'm not trying to get you know What's what's
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: I love that you are actually saying that you use
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: the football metaphors and comparisons, and it definitely is accurate
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: all of the dancers. The thing about it is in
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: a strip club, every dancer has a different style. Some
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: of the dancers are like tworkers. So like there's a
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: group of our core dancers and some of them run
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: what in the club is called twrktown in talktown, or
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: like you know, the platform stages that are within the
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: actual club, not on the main stage with the pole,
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: and some of the girls who work there like toy.
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: But then when you talk about Miss Mississippi, who is
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: played by Shannon Thornton, she is that character is meant
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: to be like the masterpiece she's based off. She's called
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: Miss Mississippi because she moves like water, and her moving
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: like water is rooted in the African deity of Yame
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: y'all yea y'all, being the goddess of water and of power.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: You know, Mercedes is like you mentioned, Mercedes is played
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: by Brandy Evans. I'm gonna say Brandy Norwood.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: Singer.
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: That's not my friend the singer, but my friend the actress,
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: Miss Brandy Evans, and she her style of dancing is
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: definitely much more athletic. It's definitely much more physical, and
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: it also lends to the personality of the dancer, you know,
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: where there's levels of aggression or where there's level of fluidity.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: I think that dance. Being a choreographer and Brandy being
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: a dancer, and Shannon having danced before. None of them
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: dance as pole dancers, but we're physical dancers. Ellen Rika Johnson,
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: who plays All the Night, she has an extensive background
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: in martial arts, so there was a level of physicality
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: that all of us had in our bodies. Right then,
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: what has to happen is that we go through a
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: training program, we go through boot camp, We literally go
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: through boot camp, just like all of the Marvel characters.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: Just like we need to do an action movie, there's
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: about three to four months before we actually start filming
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: that everybody goes to pole classes, you go on to
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: stretch classes. Got to get your hips open, got to
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: get the back. You gotta do all the conditioning because
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: it tears up your hands, your knees, You get a
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: lot of ruising and things like that. And some of
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: the girls are definitely sharing some of that background on
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: social media that you know, you guys get to see
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: of what it all takes. Because the show and the
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: world is kind of meant to be our own kind
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: of urban circus. Solet so to speak, well.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: That terms used actually in this series as well. So
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: used the Mississippi her character Keishawn's role because she's married
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: to a guy. I won't give too much of the
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: story away, but somebody she shouldn't be She shouldn't I
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: shouldn't use the word married. She's she's living with a
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: guy who she has a child with that's not creating
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: a comfortable home life for her. And that slides into
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: the who I really love this guy who plays the
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: role of Diamond, you know, it's like, you know, not
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: often did you see a show where the bouncer is
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: sensitive but dangerous. You know what I'm saying. You know,
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: you know, look at Diamond, you know a diamond. You know,
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: It's like, I feel that I could lose his he
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: could crush me, but then he can also pick me
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: up and take me and rescue me at the same
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: time after he's crushed me, you know what I'm saying, Nico,
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: So talk about those characters. When you see a character
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: like a Diamond's character and then then being able to
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: develop that how how special do you feel in the
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: role from episode to episode to episode.
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: I feel, I feel blessed. I feel really I know
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: that this is a special time as an artist, as
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: an actor, you don't always get roles that are so
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: rich and that are really rooted in a level of truth,
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: that represent your community, that can represent a fraction of
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: your life that you have been through. I think that
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: this show, it definitely takes all the different marginalized communities
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: all and the marginalized within the marginalized. You know. One
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: of the beautiful things and attractive points to me about
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: this project is that it wasn't just the women who
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: come in and out these doors. You talked about the bouncer,
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: our Diamond. That's the character's name, and Diamond is played
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: by Tyler Lepley, and Tyler is able to bring a
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: level of sensitivity as well as complexity to the role,
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: coming as a former armed officer, the officer of the law,
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: but armed forces, and what that did to him with
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: being in the war and that that postpartum that comes
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: from there. I think that it's also he's a he's
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: a root man, you know, he's a black man and
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: a Southern man that was raised in knowing the powers
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: of the earth and very strong African medicine and how
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: that works. And sometimes you don't get to see that
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: in an urban body, you know, in a contemporary body,
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: like what does that look like? You know, it's not
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: some kind of whodo hokey magic. It is literally something
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: that's rooted in tradition, like have you ever swept your
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: grandmother's foot by mistake? You know what I'm saying. So
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: that goes over the show.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: You know, left, the left, the person on the floor, okay,
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: the person on the floor, you.
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: Know exactly those things, so that those kinds of things
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: in Southern Southern uh ism are woven into this story,
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: and that actually is the part of where Katroy started
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: her writing. Her writing has always used and highlighted Southern
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: culture and all of its capacities to make it so.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: I'll change him. The music is fantastic, the characters are fantastic.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: You know when you say Grandma, I'll be remissed, Nicole
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: if I don't bring up Loretta Devine. Okay, I've even
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: remiss if I don't bring up that character.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: Brother.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: I love this lady. Come on, come on, that's my
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: girl right there.
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: Man.
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: You know, she started on Netflix's Family Reunion and so
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: many other series you know, been around. Came from the
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: University of Houston, back in Houston, Texas, back in the
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: day a ka true and true. Tell us about absolutely
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: my friend. I'm Houston, Texas absolutely so seeing her and
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: seeing her play this this this uh this role which
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: is as is Isaiah Washington, who was on the first season.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: He's from Houston, Texas, Missouri City, which is a suburb
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: of Houston, Texas. So talk about that relationship and her character.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: Working with Loretta Devine, I always say is simply divide.
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: I had on a vision board to work with her
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: on I didn't know what project. You know, this was
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: just something that I just always loved her spirit and
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: her zeal. When I met her it was even more,
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: It was even more. She is such a rich treasure,
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: like she's like a national treasure to to us as
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: a people. I can't, I can't. I want it to
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: just say to me, but I don't want to hold
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: her to myself. When we work together, it is awesome.
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: It is so much fun. We always have a level.
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: I tend to do this generally when I'm playing Uncle Quifford.
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: There's a lot of improv that happens prior to We
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: always do improv scenes prior to the scene to get
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: us in the flow because we just want to be
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: in the moment. I am from Detroit, as you mentioned earlier,
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: but my family.
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: Is rooted in the South absolutely.
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: No, Detroit is just nothing but up South.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: Yes, So there's a level of comfortability that we have
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: with one another, and we really just bounce off and
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: she's able to really just be there and drop in.
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: Sometimes we actually forget that, you know, we're not really
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: related in real life. You know, you know, she's amazing cool.
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: I'm talking to Nico. He's one of the stars and
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: an incredibly popular series of stars that we're called The
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: Pea Valley. I always try to educate myself. I always
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: try to uplift I always try to bring information to
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: the show that we all need to be aware of.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: And I also learned there's a a level of respect
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: we have to have for everybody. And now in your introduction,
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: I said, he demystifies the myth around Southern black men,
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: black gay men, and those identifying in the non binary
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: space and who live four lives. As we close out
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: this interview, please explain to us exactly the importance of
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: that and what are you trying to What am I
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: trying to say when I say that what I just said.
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: I think what you are saying to me. How I
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: receive it is that it is a new day. It
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: is a time where we regardless of how you identify,
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: I think it's the time where we can see all
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: of us well, when we can acknowledge all of us,
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: and when we can talk about it. I come from
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: a time from when it used to be the question
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: of are you sweet or do you have sugar in
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: your tank? Or back in the day even Red Fox
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: and saying from the sign, he was like, you know
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: he's a little m M. You know, there were things
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: that people always talked about, and I think that the
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: importance of today is that we really get to be
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: able to meet each other human being to human being.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: The character that I play Uncle Clifford is non binary,
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: and that's a person who is equally accepting of all
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: of the things that cannot be held into a restrictive box.
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: And I think when you have a question of how
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: someone identifies you, simply do that you can ask. That
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: is the level of respect because one of the things
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: I find with play Uncle Clifford that no matter who
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: you are or where you come from, you respect her.
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: I think you respect her because you see her. So
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: you see this body that is six two. You see
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: this dark skin, these full lips, you see this beard,
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: but you see this pretty face, and you see these nails,
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: and you're like, what's going on? But you see someone
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: walking with a level of confidence and clarity even more so,
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: and it's not even about any kind of bravado, you
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: know what I mean? I think because when you see
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: a woman that is walking in her full femininity, I
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: don't think that she has to be soft or she
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: has to be in a pants suit to have authority.
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: You understanding what I mean, And you don't think that
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: a brother that he has to be wearing a moon
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: move to be in touch with his feelings. You can
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: be who you are in your sweatpants, in your athletic socks,
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: in your business, in your moomoo, all of the things right,
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: especially for us as a community. I feel so proud
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: for this moment, honestly, brother, because there are people who
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: still have high levels of homophobia, absolutely for sure. But
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: what I do know about this time that I'm living
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: in and this project, is that there are people who
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: are willing to make a change, that are opening their minds,
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: that are opening their minds not only to the LGBTQ
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: plus can be unity in the full spectrum that we have,
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: you know, between bisexual, pan sexual trends as well as
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: pan sexual. You know that I like it all. I
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: think that I think that people have really stigmatized sex
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: workers and pole dancers for so long, right, and then
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: they watch this program and they're like, Oh, they're real
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: people just like me. They're going they're working their way
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: through school, they're taking care of their children. Yes, Oh,
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: they're helping their grandparents, their caretakers. You know, you can
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: go to the dentists and you not know that your
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: dentist used to be upon the pole or your dentists
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: used to be diamond at a club. We all have
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: a history, but we also have the power to ReadWrite
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: our future.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: Right absolutely, But Nico, I want to thank you. First
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: of all, I want to give you a voice. I
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: wanted to say thank you for allowing me to be
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: entertained every Sunday. And if I miss it on Sunday,
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: I see it on't repeat on my streaming. Great character. Well,
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: you know the thing I like, and as we close
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: this interview out is that your character is not over
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: the top. It's a character I found very realistic, you know.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: And but you just planning who you are, and I
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: think that's what you just said, just being the person
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: who you are. It doesn't have to be dressed a
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: certain way. You can You're the same person in a
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: in a kulox, You're the same person in shorts. You're
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: the same person in a dress. You the same person
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: in the suit, same person with the blood wig. You're
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: the same person. It's just being administered in a different
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: look And that's the exciting part about this show is
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: that Pea Valley is a show with a different looks
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: set in a small town, fictional city in Mississippi. The
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: music is great, the acting is great, the drama is great.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: More importantly, you will fall in love with the characters.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: If you can't find stars network, find it drop that
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: app Thank you for taking the time to come on
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations Master Class. You are a star, and
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: not only on p Valley, but you're just a star
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: of real life. Thank you, my friend, Thank you brother.
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: I appreciate it.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: And if you want to see her hear any episodes
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: of Money Making Conversation Masterclass, please go to money Making
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: Conversation dot com. IM Rushan McDonald, I am your host.
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: Thank you for joining us for this edition of Money
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: Making Conversations Masterclass. Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rushan McDonald
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: is produced by thirty eight fifteen Media Inc. More information
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: about thirty eight to fifteen Media Inc. Is available at
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: thirty eight fifteen media dot com. And always remember to
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: lead with your gifts.