Amen’s Closeted Sitcom Star Smackdown

“The Courtship of Bess Richards” (October 4, 1986)

The second episode of Amen concerns Sherman Hemsley’s Ernie trying to land his choir a new singer in Nell Carter’s Bess, and the result is a comedy of errors in which both he and she perform romantic interest that neither is capable of actually feeling. The result is a WWF-style wrestling match between these two iconic sitcom stars, and we’re joined once again by Dr. Alfred L. Martin to discuss how this is rendered all the stranger because Hemsley and Carter both were closeted and therefore all too accustomed to acting out hetero identities different from how they lived privately. 

This episode mentions a TV Guide article about Sherman Hemsley’s private life that I now cannot find online. However, I bought the issue on eBay and will post as soon as it arrives. You can see Zach Wilson’s posting of it on Twitter. Thanks, Zach!

Buy Dr. Alfred’s book, The Generic Closet: Black Gayness and the Black-Cast Sitcom.

Listen to Hemsley in the performance of Purlie that Alfred mentions.

Watch a clip of Hemsley’s gay villain turn in 2000’s Screwed.

 Listen to Dr. Alfred’s previous episodes:

• Roc Has a Gay Uncle
• Moesha Meets a Gay Guy
• Sanford Arms Meets a Gay — And He’s Black!