‘Queen Sugar’ Star Nicholas Ashe on Shooting Cop Scene, Aftermath: ‘It Was Terrifying’
(Spoiler alert: Please do not read on if you haven’t watched Tuesday’s episode of “Queen Sugar”)
The Season 2 premiere of “Queen Sugar” where Micah (Nicholas Ashe) was pulled over by a police officer and had a gun pulled on him was sadly a little too familiar for many people.
Fortunately for Micah, his arrest didn’t end up with him being shot but that doesn’t mean that the experience still wasn’t traumatizing. In the midseason finale, Micah finally confesses to Davis West (Timon Kyle Durrett) what exactly happened between the time of his arrest and being held in jail — the arresting officer had made a pit stop before taking him in and put a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger pretending that he was going to actually shoot him.
Also Read: 'Queen Sugar': How Charley's Breakdown Reminds Black Women That It's OK to Be Human
“It was terrifying, honestly,” Ashe told TheWrap about filming the scene.
Black people in the United States are disproportionately targeted by cops and the consequences of it are often times devastating. According to the Washington Post, “black Americans are 2.5 times as likely as white Americans to be shot and killed by police officers.”
“We always talk about how life imitates art but life really does imitate art in what we do on “Queen Sugar,” said the 22-year-old actor. “As a result, I felt a big responsibility to people who don’t get to live to tell their encounter with police that ended much more tragically.”
Also Read: How 'Queen Sugar' Normalizes Discussion of Mental Health for Black Women
In the midseason premiere, once Charley Bordelon West (Dawn-Lyen Gardner) learns what happened to Micah, she breaks down during a conversation with her mother where she says that she should have better prepared her son for living in the South.
“Often times people will place guilt where they feel appropriate as Charley does, but I don’t think anything she could have said could have prepared him exactly for what it would it be like to be stripped of what little privilege he had,” Ashe explained.
Ashe added that it actually doesn’t even matter how conscious you are of systemic racism and how much we know that these kinds of things happen, nothing can really prepare you for these experiences.
“That’s the paradigm that we’re dealing with with race in our country today,” the actor said. “Even having rational, coherent information is not enough to combat the evil and sadistic twisted things that have been happening both locally and nationally, internationally with our government.”
“Queen Sugar” airs Wednesdays on OWN at 10 p.m. ET/PT.
Related stories from TheWrap:
'Queen Sugar' Star Dawn Lyen-Gardner on Charley's New Hair and What It Means
'Queen Sugar': How Charley's Breakdown Reminds Black Women That It's OK to Be Human
