Directors Guild of America ( DGA ) member Eddie Griffith goes straight for the jugular with Ken, the Web series he created, wrote and directed that airs on YouTube.
Ken ( Jarret Janako ) chronicles the journey of an African-American man who's a devout Christian manand who struggles with a broken wedding engagement, his growing attraction towards men and a subsequent one-night stand with a man. Griffith is courting issues of homosexuality and religion in the Black communitytaboo subjects rarely seen on TV and in film.
Windy City Times: You recently had a screening of Ken at the Harlem LGBT Film Fair. What was the audience reaction?
Eddie Griffith: It was a more intimate film premiere and with an audience that was primarily gay and lesbian and people of color as well as people who understood relationship issues and how it relates to sexuality.
WCT: What was the filming process like for Ken?
Eddie Griffith: It's not just me, my friends and a bunch of camerasit's literally a full-on crew. I spend a lot of time editing and I am very meticulous and very slow. The last episode in this first seasonI want it to air this month. What I plan on doing is launching an IndieGoGo or crowdfunding campaign around that third episode.
WCT: Did you always want to have the show on YouTube?
Eddie Griffith: What I like about the Internet is that I can shoot it, direct it, edit it and distribute it. YouTube is universal and when I watch our numbers, we're not only showing in America but all over the world. With the networks you have to go and pitch and because the show does deal with being gay and being Christian, it's not easy for everyone to digest and it's not easy to pitch that to an HBO or an NBC especially if you don't have some big name attached to it. I wanted to do the show online because I didn't want the show to change. I never had the idea of going to a network.
WCT: The Black religious community can be very judgmental when speaking about homosexuality. Have you heard from that [demographic] in response to Ken?
Eddie Griffith: I have, but it is a very small number compared to the love of the people who appreciate that I am telling this particular story. I try not to read the comments on YouTube but I stand firm in what I believe and in this piece and in this character because this character is based on men and women, but mostly men who are Christian and have issues dealing with themselves based on their own interpretation of the Bible and their fear of being thrown out of the Church because of their sexuality.
I would like to engage someone about how they feeleven if they are opposed to homosexualitybecause that's what the whole piece is about. Ken doesn't want to be gay, he doesn't want to deal with it and accept it. The reality of it, is that it is a part of who he is and the journey is him coming into himself and trying to reconcile his faith and his sexuality.
WCT: Some Christians are quick to tell members of the gay community that they will go to hell because of their sexual orientation.
Eddie Griffith: Everyone has an opinion, especially with Christianity, and I get it. You're firm in your faith and you believe what you believe and you're stuck on it. I think when you're very narrow-minded and one-sided you can't see anything else and your compassion may be shut off from other people and it's easy to get in a judgment's chair. Hopefully, as people grow and mature and by watching Ken, people become more compassionate.
WCT: [SPOILER ALERT] In episode two, Ken slashes his wrist, which some viewers are seeing as a suicide attempt. I saw it as the character hurting the gay away or punishing himself for being gay.
Eddie Griffith: You're spot-on. There is a flashback scene where he goes back to the night when he was at the bar with the character Duke ( Travon McCall ) and he's thinking about the fact that he's never gone that far; he's never slept with another guy so now he's dealing with that. He doesn't understand that you could be gay, be happy and be Christian and have a loving relationship. So Ken is sad and he's in a low place and he's playing around with the razor and he cuts himself. And who ends up rescuing him is the love that abandoned himhis girlfriend Stephanie ( Krystal Farris ).
Watch Ken at www.youtube.com/user/KenWebSeries and get updates at www.Facebook.com/KenTheWebseries.