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Taye Diggs Compares Football Player Rodney Harrison To Slave Owner, Writes Children’s Picture Books To Promote Multiculturalism

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 05:10 PST, Oct 3, 2016

Taye Diggs is set to feature in the upcoming third season of Empire, Fox’s popular television drama revolving around the founding family of a hip-hop music entertainment company, according to Movie News Guide.

The Rent actor will feature alongside actors like Terence Howard and will be portraying a wealthy council member from New York City. Taye Diggs’s upcoming role is set to make the actor proud, as his character has been compared with Barak Obama.

The news about Taye Diggs’s Barack Obama-inspired role comes just a few days after the Brown Sugar star came down heavily on Rodney Harrison, the veteran football player, who censured Colin Kaepernick, the young footballer, for refusing to stand while the American anthem was being played during a football game.

Earlier, Colin Kaepernick had protested against the racial injustices prevalent in the United States by refusing to stand for the American national anthem. Rodney had criticized Colin for adopting a rebellious stance without understanding the sufferings of black Americans.

Clearly, Rodney had jumped to conclusions because the former football player had failed to realize that Colin had faced racist invectives too, as his father was an African-American. It was natural for Taye Diggs to criticize Rodney for being prejudiced at a time when all Americans are expected to unite and fight racial bigotry.

Like other African-Americans, Taye has firmly stood by Colin Kaepernick, and he expected Rodney to support the young football player. According to TMZ, Taye Diggs chastised Rodney by comparing him with the 19th-century slave owners who used to achieve their ulterior motives by pitting slaves against each other.

“Dare I say it’s the same divisive perspective used by slave owners between black workers in the field and lighter workers in the house. It worked back then, must we continue to let it work now?”

Previously, Taye Diggs himself had drawn criticism when he declared that he considers his son to be biracial and not an African-American. Walker Nathaniel, Taye Diggs’s son, was born out of the actor’s 10-year marriage with Idina Menzel, the actress and singer.

The actor’s remarks had offended several black Americans who went on to accuse Taye Diggs of being ashamed of his own race. However, the Private Practice actor clarified his views by stating that he wanted his son to grow up feeling proud of the lineage from both his father’s and his mother’s side of the family. Through his assertion, Taye Diggs wants to encourage his fellow Americans to be broad-minded and confront people who promote discrimination on the basis of race.

Additionally, Taye Diggs has created children’s books which reveal the actor’s sensitivity about issues pertaining to skin color and racial discrimination. Chocolate Me!, Taye Diggs’s 2015 picture book, narrates the story of an African-American boy who is teased by his classmates for having curly hair and a darker skin color.

Mixed Me!, Taye’s second picture book is based on his own son and it encourages biracial children to feel honored about their mixed heritage. Through his picture books, the multitalented actor aims to encourage readers to accept diversity and promote multiculturalism.

True to his beliefs, Taye Diggs has always worked with people who have advocated free thinking and multiculturalism. In fact, Rent, Taye’s most famous Broadway musical, was written by Jonathan Larson, the late playwright who was famous for advocating multiculturalism through his plays.

Taye Diggs might have gained popularity as Dr. Samuel Bennett when he was in Private Practice, the ABC medical drama, but it was his stage acting in forward-thinking musicals like Rent and Hedwig and the Angry Inch that truly gave him the breakthrough that he needed in show business.

Apart from being a talented actor, Taye Diggs is also known as an active social media user who appears to be enthusiastic about receiving updates on a number of matters by following almost everyone who follows him. However, Slate reports that Taye Diggs has now unexpectedly started unfollowing many of the Twitter accounts that he previously followed.

[Featured Image by Jesus Aranguren/AP Images]

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empire taye diggs Idina Menzel Colin Kaepernick
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