Obama-produced biopic explores legacy of civil rights movement leader
A new Barack and Michelle Obama-produced biopic about Bayard Rustin, the civil rights activist who mentored Martin Luther King Jr, will explore how his sexuality has affected his legacy.
Rustin, who died aged 75 in 1987, was one of the key organisers of the 1963 March on Washington – where King Jr made his “I have a dream” speech to 250,000 demonstrators.
But as a gay man with affiliations to the Communist Party, his place in history has often been erased in the decades since.
Bayard Rustin points to a map showing the path of the March on Washington
From the 1940s until the end of the 1960s, Rustin was beaten, arrested and ostracised for his political convictions and sexuality.
“It completely played against him and also a lot of women in the movement as well,” said Euphoria’s Colman Domingo, who is playing Rustin in the Netflix biopic.
“I understand how black folks, at times, we can be a bit conservative. But I think it was all trying to come together to actually do what we believed was right,” he said.
“Yet you have people’s minds, bodies and souls who live outside of that, who are sort of outliers that get denied access in many ways. And [Rustin] was just very much a man of his own creation.”
Jendella Benson, author and head of editorial at Black Ballad – a media outlet and community for black British women – said Rustin was a victim of the respectability politics of the time.
In the US in the 1960s, homosexuality was classified as a psychiatric disorder and you could face being fired from work for being gay.
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“There were all these ideas about respectability, about the right kind of black person to lead us and who is the infallible black person that white people will have to listen to, that white people will have to respect who has done all the right things. And we don’t leave room for complication,” Ms Benson said.
“I think black communities often suffer from this idea of collective responsibility, which can be good, but also can be quite restrictive in terms of if one person messes up, it’s somehow a brush to tar the whole community with.
“And rather than interrogating that narrative, sometimes we play into it.”
A scene from Rustin (L to R), Michael Potts as Cleve Robinson, Aml Ameen as Martin Luther King Jr, Chris Rock as NAACP Executive Director Roy Wilkins, Glynn Turman as A Philip Randolph and Kevin Mambo as Whitney Young. Pic: David Lee/Netflix
Rustin isn’t the first instance in which an activist from the civil rights movement has been sidelined in favour of someone who better fits rigid societal expectations.
Journalist and author Gary Younge documented the story of 15-year-old Claudette Colvin in his book Dispatches From The Diaspora: Nelson Mandela To Black Lives Matter.
Gary Younge
She was removed from a bus in Montgomery, Alabama in the 1950s.
“The civil rights movement [was] going to go with her [as the face of the protest] but she was dark-skinned [and] from the wrong side of town. And then she got pregnant and they dropped her like a hot potato,” Mr Younge told Sky News.
Shortly after, Rosa Parks was kicked off a bus in the same city and became synonymous with the civil rights movement.
Rosa Parks
“I’m proudest of [interviewing] Claudette Colvin [in the book] because I found her and I felt at the time she wasn’t being celebrated in the way that she is now,” Mr Younge said.
Just three years before the March on Washington, the US had its first televised presidential debate. For the biopic’s film director George C Wolfe this made the civil rights movement acutely aware of the impact respectability had on perception.
George C Wolfe and Colman Domingo
“President Kennedy had just won a presidential election because he was handsome and charismatic versus Richard Nixon, who sweated throughout the entire thing.
“So image was very important for black people at the time because they were aware that they were entering the mainstream,” Wolfe told Sky News.
Rustin is streaming on Netflix.
Frederick Forsyth, the author of The Day Of The Jackal, has died at the age of 86 after a brief illness, his literary agents Curtis Brown said.
His book The Day Of The Jackal was turned into a 1973 film and last year a TV series on Sky Atlantic featuring Eddie Redmayne and Lashana Lynch.
The best-selling author was surrounded by his family when he died on Monday morning, Curtis Brown added.
Read more: Eddie Redmayne says preparing for role in film almost ended in disaster
The author in 1984. Pic: PA
Forsyth, a former RAF pilot and investigative journalist turned novelist, was also known for his thrilling crime books The Fox, The Kill List and The Afghan.
He was born in Ashford, Kent, in 1938 and joined the Royal Air Force in 1956 before leaving after two years to pursue a career in journalism.
He covered international stories and the attempted assassination of French general Charles de Gaulle, which provided the inspiration for The Day Of The Jackal, which was published in 1971.
In 2000 he became the first high-profile British writer to agree to publish a book exclusively on the internet.
He revealed he had extensive involvement with MI6 in his 2015 memoir The Outsider: My Life In Intrigue.
His agent Jonathan Lloyd said: “We mourn the passing of one of the world’s greatest thriller writers.
“Only a few weeks ago I sat with him as we watched a new and moving documentary of his life – In My Own Words, to be released later this year on BBC1 – and was reminded of an extraordinary life, well lived.
“After serving as one of the youngest ever RAF pilots, he turned to journalism, using his gift for languages in German, French and Russian to become a foreign correspondent in Biafra.
“Appalled at what he saw and using his experience during a stint as a secret service agent, he wrote his first and perhaps most famous novel, The Day Of The Jackal, and instantly became a global best-selling author.
“He went on to write more than 25 books (many of which were made into films) that have sold over 75 million copies.
“He will be greatly missed by his family, his friends, all of us at Curtis Brown and of course his millions of fans around the world – though his books will of course live on forever.”
Maybe Happy Ending, a romantic-comedy about a pair of androids falling in love, has won six Tony Awards, including best new musical.
The story charts the relationship between two decommissioned robots, becoming a commentary on human themes and the passage of time.
Starring Darren Criss and Helen J Shen, Maybe Happy Ending enjoyed huge success at the 78th annual ceremony held at the Radio City Music Hall in New York on Sunday.
The acclaimed Broadway production’s awards also included Criss winning best leading actor in a musical, alongside prizes for best direction of a musical, best original theatre score, best book of a musical, and best scenic design of a musical.
In other awards, Purpose, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ drawing room drama about an accomplished black family exposing hypocrisy and pressures during a snowed-in gathering, won best new play.
Darren Criss and Helen J Shen perform a number from Maybe Happy Ending at the Tony Awards. Pic: Reuters
Jacobs-Jenkins becomes the first black playwright to win the award since August Wilson took home the accolade in 1987 for Fences.
It underlines a triumphant year for Jacobs-Jenkins after scooping the Pulitzer Prize for Purpose – and winning back-to-back Tonys after his Appropriate won best play revival in 2024.
Kara Young – the first black female actor to be nominated for a Tony in four consecutive years – became the first black person to win two awards consecutively, picking up the trophy for featured actress in a play for her work in Purpose.
Kara Young made history at the ceremony in New York. Pic: Reuters
Sunset Blvd won best musical revival, handing composer Andrew Lloyd Webber his first competitive Tony since 1995, when the original show won.
The current version is a stripped-down, minimalist production.
Sarah Snook took home the trophy for leading actress in a play for her tireless work in The Picture Of Dorian Gray, where she plays all 26 roles.
“I don’t feel alone any night that I do this show,” Snook said, dismissing the idea of her play as a one-woman show.
“There are so many people onstage making it work and behind the stage making it work.”
Oh Mary! saw Sam Pinkleton win best director and Cole Escola landing best actor in a play.
A delighted Sam Pinkleton after winning an award at the Tonys. Pic: Reuters
Francis Jue won best actor in a featured role in a play for his work in a revival of Yellow Face.
Jak Malone won best actor in a featured role in a musical for the British import, Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical.
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Eureka Day, Jonathan Spector’s social satire about well-meaning liberals debating a school’s vaccine policy, won the best play revival trophy.
Stranger Things: The First Shadow – based on the 12-time Emmy-winning Netflix hit sci-fi series, won best scenic design, lighting design and sound design of a play.
The production, which has been running in London’s West End, also picked up a special award for its illusions and technical effects.
Snoop Dogg says he hopes to set up a burger van at Celtic’s stadium and wants to serve fans himself.
The US rapper, 53, has described the football club’s supporters as “special” and the best fans in European football.
And Snoop, who played Glasgow‘s OVO Hydro arena in 2023, has also said he strongly identifies with the club’s mascot Hoopy the Hound.
He said a fast-food van at Celtic Park would become a foodie “Paradise” which is a nickname for the ground in the Parkhead area of the city.
Celtic Park. Pic: AP
Snoop told the Sunday Mail: “I would love to bring a pop-up burger [van] to a sports stadium to show fans that food at stadiums can be good.
“It’s got to be Celtic Park, man. The secret to a good burger is the love in the preparation. The ground beef has got to be mixed with some secret spices, then add a good quality cheese and some maple-cured bacon.
“The Celtic fans are gonna love it, and to make sure they are just right, Snoop is going to be serving them himself.”
But he said he would not be taking his culinary ventures to Rangers – Celtic’s Old Firm rivals at Ibrox.
The Drop It Like It’s Hot star told the paper: “Am I going to bring my burgers to Rangers as well? Nah, I think we will give that a miss.”
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The musician has previously spoken of investing in Celtic, similar to Hollywood actor Ryan Reynolds’s involvement with Wrexham FC.
Snoop has already published a cookbook and claims to have spoken to chef Gordon Ramsay about a possible venture in Glasgow together.
The keen sports fan worked as a correspondent for NBC at the Paris Olympics last year, and has launched two youth football leagues, as well as being a vocal advocate for pay equality for female athletes.
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