The conversation about men wearing dresses in movie roles was brought to light when Katt Williams mentioned it during his appearance on “Club Shay Shay” with Shannon Sharpe.
Williams specifically mentioned Rickey Smiley and Tyler Perry as the two actors known for playing those roles.
However, several Black male actors wore a dress on TV or in movies, including comedian Mark Curry in an episode of “Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper.” But Williams didn’t mention Curry as one of the actors wearing a dress — in fact, he had nothing negative to say about Curry in the interview.
Curry recently sat down in an interview on “Willie D Live,” and the comedian defended his stance on why he wore the dress.
“I did wear a dress one time,” Curry said. “The only reason I did it — and I told them I’d never wear a dress — but it was with Sherman Hemsley. The situation was Sherman Hemsley, he was a landlord and I had to dress up as a woman to convince him. It was a funny scene, but I said ‘ I don’t do dresses, homie, but for Sherman Hemsley I’ll do it.'”
Curry was then asked if there was an agenda to emasculate Black men in Hollywood and why he decided to wear the dress.
“I had a Teflon vest on, I showed my masculinity. I showed who I was, and the reason I had the dress on, I wanted to work with Sherman Hemsley. I loved him, and he was physical, and he was trying to attack me [in the movie]. That was funny to me,” Curry said. “When I went in to do that scene, I remember we got into it with the network. They wanted full makeup. I put the wig on and told the makeup dude ‘I’m not doing all that s—. If I’m the one putting the makeup on in the scene, I wouldn’t do it right,’ and I did it my own self.”
