Actor Blair Underwood said he turned down his initial role on “Sex And The City” after refusing to be seen as a sex object.
Many recall his short stint on the popular HBO series as Dr. Robert Leeds. While sitting for an interview with the AV Club, Underwood explained how he did not accept an initial offer to be a series-regular on the hit HBO Show.
Underwood said he declined due to the storyline involving Samantha’s curiosity about dating a Black man and stereotypes about Black anatomy.
The “Madea’s Family Reunion” star said that while he never watched the show, he knew that it could have possibly been a life-changing move for him.
“I had never watched it before. I knew it was a big hit, but I’d never watched it… and I actually did say ‘no’ the first time,” Underwood explained. “The first time they had offered the role, to be honest with you, it was about how Samantha was fascinated by dating a Black man and wanted to know if, uh, all of the rumors were true about our anatomy!”
He continued, “And I said, ‘Listen, I’m honored, thank you, but I just don’t want to play a character based on race, on curiosity about a Black man.’”
Dish Nation posted the team’s discussion about his comments on its Instagram page.
One of the hosts introduced the package, “He wasn’t willing to just be seen as another Black man with a big ol’ [d—k].”
Headcrack, the lead of the show, said that he would have taken the initial role. He playfully noted, “Soon as [my agent] would have hung up the phone I would have started doing crunching,” adding that he would have wanted to be the guy doing serious damage (sexually) with one of the ladies on the hit show.
His co-host said, “You want her to be like, ‘Girl, he broke my back.’”
Ping-ponging on the subject, Headcrack said he wanted to that and more.
“I wanna mess her credit up,” he quipped. “I would have borrowed a car for seven days but no explanation,” playing off the stereotype that good sex will make a woman do anything for a man.
I can so see Samantha and hear her all over this would’ve been episode Chile 😂
— BROWN GIRL GRINDING⭐️ (@LorenLorosa) July 25, 2024
Per @Variety — Blair Underwood turned down his first "Sex and the City" offer because "it was about how Samantha was fascinated by dating a Black man. She wanted to know if the rumors were true”… pic.twitter.com/BTRQQi9x1k
Fans in the comment section applauded him for not allowing himself to be a fetishized or objectified in roles.
“I’m glad he didn’t do it,” one person wrote. Another said, “I’m glad he turned it down based on that.”
All was not lost with the show and the chocolate heartthrob, Underwood did get a call from the production a year later, approaching him differently about the role of Dr. Robert Leeds on the show.
“I said, ‘Well, is it gonna be about race?’ And they said, ‘No, no, no, we’re not even gonna mention race!’ And I think it really did only come up maybe once,” he revealed.
The “Krush Groove” rapper wound up doing five episodes on the series and was only referred to as “a Black doctor” once on the show by the character Samantha Jones, played by actress Kim Cattrall.
Ultimately, Underwood’s goal was never to be the token actor on any project.
He said, “That’s really been a consistent thing in my career: not wanting to be boxed as ‘the Black guy.’ I’ve had that conversation with many producers along the way, and they were so great. They said, ‘No, he’s just a doctor who Miranda meets in the elevator, and they have a nice little fling.’ And it was amazing.”
Underwood played Miranda’s boyfriend on the show for a year from 2003 to 2004, but made sure the role was about the other big “d” … Depth.
After “Sex & the City,” he went on to land roles in other series and films such as “LAX,” “Dirty Sexy Money,” “Juanita,” “When They See Us,” “American Crime Story,” and more recently, “Origin.”
