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WATCH: First Teaser of Queen Latifah as Bisexual Blues Singer Bessie Smith
The HBO film premieres on May 16.
The first teaser is out for HBO Dee Rees’ (Pariah) Bessie Smith biopic, aptly named Bessie, which stars Queen Latifah as the ahead-of-her-time queer chanteuse, and it looks and sounds amazing.
Smith, born in 1912, in Chattanooga, Tenn., is widely credited with introducing the blues into popular American music. She kicked off her career performing with Ma Rainey (played by Mo’Nique in the film) enjoyed a solid career, becoming the highest paid African American performer of the ‘20s. Her career began to wane during the Great Depression, when the recording industry was in decline, according to the University of Illinois website. A pioneer on many fronts, Smith sang songs with explicit lesbian lyrics, including “It’s Dirty But Good.” A married woman, Smith was said to keep many female lovers.
Latifah played lesbian in the '90s heist movie Set it Off, and her Mama Morton in Chicago was arguably Sapphic. We’re confident this third time will definitely charm.
Here's the teaser. We can not WAIT!
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Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP, Executive Producer of Entertainment for the Advocate Channel. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.
Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP, Executive Producer of Entertainment for the Advocate Channel. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.
