Black Voices In Horror: Lafayette

In 2008, HBO premiered one of my favorite horror series ever, no, not Tales From The Crypt, but I like where your mind is at. For seven seasons, I sat my butt down on Sunday nights for HBO’s True Blood. The series was a supernatural vampire mystery series based on Charlaine Harris’ book series “The Southern Vampire Mysteries.”

Both the book and T.V. show followed a telepathic waitress, Sookie, who gets wrapped up in the world of vampires who have finally come out of the coffin and now live openly with humans. This show had a lot of shining stars and moments (and some moments we won’t even talk about, like most of the 7th season) but the one character and moment of the series that is solidified within my memory is Nelsan Ellis’ portrayal of Lafayette Reynolds, a short-order cook/ local drug dealer who is a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community.

Before I jump into the moment that made Lafayette iconic, in my mind, I have to state, his character was originally saved due to the love and support of the fans. Lafayette in the books is murdered at the beginning of book two, which was going to be the case for the start of season two, but the love of Ellis and the voices of his fans could not go unheard. When I learned he died in book two, I prayed they didn’t go that route for the series, because he was a joy to watch.

Lafayette always felt like the moral compass of the show, the character that was willing to say what everyone was thinking and could handle himself in any situation. Within entertainment, we see gay characters from time to time, portrayed as weaker characters. I can name a list of shows, movies and comics where a gay character is beaten within a hate crime storyline only to rise above that event to be seen as a stronger character…now I’m not gay, so I can’t speak to how that form of storytelling impacts a closeted or out gay individual, but I can say as a storyteller and a real-life human being, I got sick of seeing one section of society shown as weak or unable to protect themselves.

So, when Lafayette walked into the world of True Blood with all his proud gay glory, it was amazing. Also, might I remind you, he was a drug dealer, not just regular drugs, but those and vampire blood. You have to be ready for anything when you’re coming up in the drug game ( All I know about the drug game, is what I see in movies, Mama, I swear) let’s just take a look at Lafayette with what we know now:

He’s Black

He’s Gay

He’s Not Weak

I would have been fine with those three traits, but then they made my boy a witch and a medium. Lafayette was the gay black hero that the black community didn’t know we needed. I was lucky enough to hear Ellis speak about his time as Lafayette at DragonCon one year. He seemed pretty shocked at the impact that the character had on his fans, I believe the word of that day was ‘Iconic,’ and that’s exactly what Ellis and Lafayette were. Sadly, Ellis died of complications from alcohol withdrawal in 2017. That was also the last year I drank alcohol, I’m not sure if his death had much to do with that, but I do remember losing him hit me pretty hard. Even thinking about him not being here still hurts, unable to see the rise of black voices in horror and Hollywood as a whole.

Now, let me give you the moment that turned Ellis and Lafayette into horror icons within my mind. In 2008, Ellis was part of an epic scene in True Blood’s ‘Sparks Fly Out’ episode where a customer returns his burger to the kitchen stating he didn’t want to eat it because it was prepared by a gay man (I’m being nice, the redneck said it had AIDS) so, Ellis in true Lafayette glory went over to discuss the matter with the customer…I leave you with my favorite moment:

Alright Survivors, I’m Sylvester Barzey and thank you for taking this dive into horror with me. If you want to take a deeper look into my twisted mind you can check out my current books at www.sylvesterbarzey.com/books.