Wayne Brady and his Black experience

Brady, 48, has won five Emmys for his roles across various TV shows, appeared on Broadway stages and even earned a Grammy nomination for his cover of Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come.” He said he’s been working on new music and he wants to continue to be a voice for people who look like him, especially with the platform he has.

“By the time I started getting on, around the time of ‘Who’s Line,’ I kind of fell into this narrative that was being written for me by some network people who didn’t want to see Black either. They wanted an amiable, shiny, Black face that could connect with their viewers, but we don’t necessarily have to talk about the Black experience. You’re Black but we don’t necessarily need all that ‘rah rah’ about it. Sure, and I was complicit because in my mind, I’m not going to talk about Blackness either, I’m going to kick ass and show everybody how amazing I am. And if I do that because of the talent that I have, then that will change the conversation of race,” he said. “It was very idealistic of me but super naïve and the world doesn’t work like that. If I would have used my platform even from the get-go, to be able to say, ‘I sit in my Blackness, that’s who I am and let’s go,’ that would have been a different thing.”

He added: “I think that I was part of a system where as long as you didn’t cause waves and as long as you smiled and you’re Black and you’re happy, great — versus, I’m Black, I’m going to smile and I’m going to be happy because I have a blessed life but I am also going to be very proud of my culture and my background, and I will not let you step on me about it.”

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