Taking in that first full-sight of Uncle Clifford (Nicco Annan) on Starz’s new hit P-Valley is a research in considerably jarring contrasts. Proprietor of the strip membership The Pynk, Uncle Clifford (who goes by she/her pronouns) wears a beard and historically feminine garb; she is a Black particular person able of energy making a low key unlawful negotiation with a white police officer; she is the non-gender-conforming boss in an area designated to rejoice heteronormative rituals; she is an ally to the ladies inside The Pynk and their brutal overseer, too. From the second she enters the display screen, it is clear we have simply met somebody who’s about to upend our world.
We would already been informed, when Autumn (Elarica Johnson) saunters as much as the doorway on her first night time there, that Uncle Clifford (Nicco Annan) makes the principles (“No humorous cash,” “Males $20, bitches $30”), however nothing can fairly put together us for the primary sight of Uncle Clifford, popping out from a shadow, displaying her would possibly. She’s simply tossed out a person who obtained too handsy within the VIP and points a menace: “You greatest settle down earlier than I inform your spouse the place you was tonight.” The person lamely calls for his admission charge again and Uncle Clifford, waving her fan in a manner that makes her wig transfer so, snaps, “You need yo cum again too?” This, we come to know instantly, is P-Valley‘s HBIC.
In #PValley, Uncle Clifford runs the sport and units the principles. Tune in July 12 on @STARZ. pic.twitter.com/o1Wa2pYcBA
— P-Valley (@PValleySTARZ) July 3, 2020
Assumptions and standard knowledge about homophobia within the Black group say Uncle Clifford can be on the backside of the usual social hierarchy however right here she is — a 6’2, dark-skinned hunk of human in a wig and shirt, placing everyone in verify. “I am instituting some new guidelines for y’all hoes, beginning tonight!” she barks in a later scene.
Uncle Clifford comes partly from the creativeness and experiences of P-Valley’s creator Katori Corridor, and partly from the cautious consideration of Nicco Annan. “[Uncle Clifford] is the fusion of some folks,” Corridor informed TV Information through cellphone. “My momma, who ain’t no one to mess with, and my dad, who ain’t no one to mess with both — he carries a gun — however could be very nurturing. And my actual Uncle Clifford may learn you for filth. I needed to painting [Black people] in a nuanced and complex manner, particularly since Black queer folks are underrepresented. I needed to normalize non-binary folks. Particularly down South, they exist. I’ve seen them, I have been within the room with them — they’re wonderful.”
Certainly, a part of what makes Uncle Clifford so resonant will not be the truth that she’s unbelievable however, the other; she’s very actual. As individuals who’ve hung out down South know, notably in greater cities like Atlanta and Memphis, non-binary Black persons are typically neighborhood fixtures, accepted and even celebrated inside a group’s social material. In popular culture, folks like Big Freedia, the late Messy Mya, and Alabama’s Prancing Elites are simply a number of the Black genderqueer/non-binary people who characterize many extra of us like them at residence.
For Annan, an out homosexual man who performed Uncle Clifford within the play that birthed this present, the character represents a quiet revolution. “When Uncle Clifford is described within the play, it was ‘Masculine and female in equal measure.’ Once I learn that on the web page I stated, ‘Oh my God, that sounds dope.’ I do know lots of people who’ve skilled trauma as an LGBT particular person, however I do know lots of people who have been accepted for who they have been, too. In highschool, there have been quite a lot of Black girls who accepted me and [defended] me. I am not non-binary however, my male cousins, they experience for me. I needed these conversations to be a part of this world.”
Annan’s on-screen selections anchor Uncle Clifford in a particular, hyper-real story and sense of place. He insisted on preserving facial hair to convey the concept that patrons aren’t “coming to a drag membership or a homosexual membership — you are coming to an oasis the place no matter you need can come true…but it surely’s additionally one thing that claims to hypermasculine males ‘Do not attempt me.'” Annan additionally nails regional dialect with disarming accuracy, turning “higher not” into “greatest not,” and “round right here” into “‘spherical chere.” Annan offers Uncle Clifford grace and attract, utilizing an knowledgeable honey-drenched drawl, a big-booty gait, and a manner of delivering devastating shade with a seductive purr that makes Uncle Clifford a kind of character we have by no means seen earlier than, and extra importantly, cannot look away from.
“The Pynk obtained every part {that a} man wants,” she says at one level. “We obtained white bitches, redbone bitches, midnight blue bitches, Molly, sizzling wings, Tums after the new wings.” And probably the most fascinating character on TV this summer season, too.
P-Valley airs Sundays at 8/7c on Starz.
Nicco Annan, P-Valley