Perceptions of the Black Male Homosexual

As a multiracial individual, I got really into Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele's sketch comedy show, "Key and Peele" on Comedy Central last year. Their commentary on society's constructions of race, sexual orientation, etc. makes me laugh, as well as think. Two video clips of theirs I found to be relevant to the current class theme of homosexuality and homothuggin' in within gang and hip hop culture.

The first clip is a fantastic articulation of the binary a Black male feels pressured to fulfill as an intelligent, supportive husband while maintaining hood swag:

The clip begins with Key standing on a street corner in Los Angeles, speaking on the phone to his wife with proper annunciation: "Because you're my wife and you love the theater and it's your birthday." Peele walks up and as soon as the eye contact has been made, the switch from loving husband to hood rat occurs. The pronunciation of "theater" changes to "thee-ater" and in a more aggressive tone, Key says, "Ima pick yo ass up at six thirty then," a stark contrast from the gentler expression earlier.

The camera leaves Key and follows Peele as his expression and tone switches from using "c'mon, man" and "aight" with a furrowed brow to an overdramatized "Oh my God, Christian, I almost totally just got mugged right now," in an effeminate, whiney voice characterized as stereotypically gay. This shows how the assumptions made about "the other" within the Black, male community (in this case, that they are hard, hood, unintelligent, unfriendly, demeaning towards women, and masculine) effect how Black males present themselves to each other and perpetuate society's view of how every Black male fits these assumptions.

The second video clip serves to prove the same point:

As Key sets up a drug deal, Peele steps into the scene, grabbing his genitals and embodying masculinity in baggy jeans, a "wife-beater," a backwards hat, and sneakers. The confrontational braggadocio begins and as the banter turns physical, Peele grabs Key's butt. Key exclaims, "Kick it, don't grab it!" in defense of his public sexuality and "hardness." As Peele continues to insinuate homosexual tendencies, Key becomes increasingly furious as his masculinity is being destabilized.

Key declares, "This is wrong, man. This is so wrong," in another attempt to validate his perceived heterosexuality and once Peele challenges him with, "Yeah? What's so wrong about it?" it breaks the barrier of self-consciousness in Key and allows him to accept the fact that he has intimate feelings for Peele, but had thought he was seeing another man.

Again, Key and Peele have managed to clearly display the common perceptions of Black males and throw wrenches into those perceptions so that the public can see through the bravado and fraudulence. It seems that we really are gradually moving towards an era where there is a chance of acceptance of the Black male homosexual within gang and hip hop culture.