Ncuti Gatwa felt "fetishised" on his first night out as a teenager.
GQ Men Of The Year Celebration 2023 in association with BOSS. © Jeff Hahn
The 31-year-old actor grew up in Scotland and recalled feeling "deeply, deeply sexualised" whilst working as a shot boy and go-go dancer in the sister club of Glasgow’s The Polo Lounge shortly after leaving high school and "couldn't understand" why he was being "grabbed" as he made his way through the venue.
He told British GQ's Men of the Year special issue: "It was very weird going from high school, where being the queer, black kid you were nobody’s pick of the bunch, to getting thrown into the Glasgow gay scene. I will never forget my first night out.
"I was in a white gay environment [and] as a black man, I was deeply, deeply sexualised. I couldn’t quite understand the toxicity of that. I couldn’t understand that I was being fetishised. I wasn’t able to walk through this club without every bit of me being grabbed. It was weird – but fun! Very fun!"
The former 'Sex Education' star was born in Rwanda and went on to add that whenever he visits his native country, he has noticed that they are "succumbing to a reality" that has been put on them and hopes that one day they will be able to experience "actual joy".
He said: "They are succumbing to a reality that’s been forced on them. I would love this person to sneak out at night and come to Pride, or come to a gay bar and live their best life, but a film plays in my head of that person [being confronted by] bouncers, who are like ‘No, you can’t come in because you’ve not stamped gay on your head.“
"They should be able to come in and have a little taste of actual joy."
GQ Men Of The Year Celebration 2023 in association with BOSS.
The December/ January issue of British GQ is available via digital download and on newsstands on the 28th November.
Read the full interview here: https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/ncuti-gatwa-interview-2023
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