Lena Waithe On Being An Artist In The Time Of Trump

Lena Waithe, aka the coolest girl in LA, sat down with Amy and Rebecca to chat about the role of the artist in turbulent times, what it was like explaining “redbone” to Aziz Ansari on “Master of None,” and the importance of a lesbian manicure. The Black-Queer-Angeleno-by-way-of-Chicago Mash-Up, who is a writer, producer, and actor, also recently sold her show, “The Chi,” which focuses on the lives of young Black men in Chicago, to Showtime. In short, Lena Waithe is goals AF. 

Lena Waithe, Writer, Producer, Actor, Shit-Talker

Lena On Truth In Storytelling:

It’s important to be our complete selves. I plan on being a very out and proud person as my star continues to rise. The truth is we need to be examples to those who are in the business who are gay but don’t want to be out. If you look at the numbers, as many Black people as there are in Hollywood, you can count on your hand the number of people who are out as gay. There’s an issue.

Especially in these troublesome times, we have to be out and be proud and be ourselves and be an example to those at home who are our fans. Those fans who go, “Oh, I like this person. I didn’t know they were gay. Maybe being gay isn’t so bad because I like what they do and their art.” At the end of the day, that’s where change happens and where change begins.

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This podcast is produced by American Public Media and Southern California Public Radio, KPCC. It is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. To find out more about how the NEA grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov.