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‘He Was Convulsing’: Sterling K. Brown Said His 8-Year-Old Broke Down When He Saw Killmonger Die in ‘Black Panther’

Sterling K. Brown sat down on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” on Monday, where he talked about his two sons and what they think of his acting roles.

Brown is one of the stars who lent his voice to the animated film “Frozen 2,” and while his sons Andrew, 8, and Amaré, 4, enjoyed it, they were indifferent about their dad being in it.

“They are impressed by it,” said Brown. “They’re not impressed that I’m in it. They love the movie, they love the music of it, and after it’s over I was like, ‘Do you think Daddy did a good job?’ And my 8-year-old is like, ‘Yeah, you were fine.’ Fishing for compliments from your 8-year-old, that’s what I’ve been reduced to.”

Sterling K. Brown said his 8-year-old son had a bad reaction to seeing the character Killmonger die in the film “Black Panther.” (Photo: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images)

But Andrew was reduced to tears when he saw “Black Panther,” where Brown plays the father of Erik Killmonger, played by Michael B. Jordan. Because both Brown and Jordan’s characters die in the film, and it was just too much for the 8-year-old to take.

“He’s impressed with it, but here’s a note to the wise: If you take your son to a movie where the character that plays your son dies, he may have a traumatic effect,” Brown explained. “Like, when Killmonger died in the movie … he was convulsing.”

“I had to, like, pick him up, sit him on my lap and rock him and tell him it was gonna be OK,” the actor continued. “And afterward, when we went to the after party, he would not leave my side. He was like, ‘When are we going home? We’re going together. Until then, I’m not leaving you.’ It was beautiful.”

Sterling has been in high demand as an actor ever since playing attorney Christopher Darden in 2016’s “The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story,” where he won an Emmy.

He also nabbed an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Randall Pearson in the NBC series “This is Us.”

Coming up, Brown will be seen in “The Rhythm Section,” a film that Variety describes as a spy thriller. And he’ll also star in the upcoming sports movie “Rise,” where he’ll play coach Willie Davis, a janitor of a Louisiana middle school who became a successful coach of the boy’s basketball team.

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