You may know Boris Kodjoe as the charming romantic lead in most of his roles, but in a recent episode of the “Pivot Podcast” hosted by NFL stars Ryan Clark, Channing Crowder, and Fred Taylor, the actor showed his vulnerable side as he spoke of the racism he faced growing up as a biracial man in Germany, in an upsetting reminder of the adversity Black kids face globally.
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As the episode started, Ryan Clark jumped straight into the hard-hitting topics by asking Kodjoe to explain his experiences as a “Biracial Black man in Germany,” pointing out that in the past, Kodjoe has said he “walks this earth as a Black man.”
Being the son of a White German mom and a Ghanaian father, the actor stated that he was the victim of bullying every day, an experience that made him feel othered and took a toll on him.
“I was faced with racism, with bullies every single day, growing up in Germany, because I was different. Kids reaching out, grabbing your hair, rubbing your skin to see if it’s real, asking if we live in trees in Africa, just the most ignorant, dumb things based on misinformation and fear.”
However, racial bullying wasn’t the only challenge that Kodjoe had to face. As his dad left when he was three, the “Addicted” star said that he only had his white mom to help him understand why he was being targeted by his bullies, making it hard for him to feel like he could relate to the people around him.
“…Not having my father there made it so much harder because I didn’t have anybody to relate to. I didn’t have somebody to protect me. I didn’t have somebody to explain to me what this was. My mother did an extremely admirable job in putting a sense of pride and confidence in us (he and his siblings)… She tried her best to give us a sense that we had value.”
Due to the bullying he faced, Kodjoe needed an outlet for his frustration, so the athlete-turned-actor gravitated towards sports.
“It (sports) presented me with an outlet, something that I could sort of let out all my aggression and my anger and the pent-up frustration I felt every day… I compensated for everything that I felt by excelling in sports,” Kodjoe told his podcast hosts.
Kodjoe gravitation towards sports would earn him a tennis scholarship, allowing him to relocate to the United States in the 90s, but it would be a career-ending back injury that would make Kodjoe take up modelling and acting instead, according to ESPN.
After a clip from the interview was posted onto X, folks in the comments spoke of their own experiences growing up with racism and how it affected them, too.
“I grew up in Belgium. It was challenging. I was always in survival mode. I remember being in class and the teacher asked who invented the wheel. One student responded, ‘I don’t know, but it definitely wasn’t a n*****…’ The whole class burst out laughing, including the teacher,” posted one user.
Other responses in the comments praised Kodjoe for his resilience after having to deal with racial bullying growing up, and the example he is setting for Black men.
“Powerful and heartbreaking. The resilience it takes to still walk with pride after being made to feel different from birth… that’s strength you can’t teach,” posted one user.
“I have loved this man for as long as I can remember. The way he treated his Black wife (Nicole Ari Parker) has always made me feel ‘at home’ with him as a Black man, because he has understood the importance of protection and covering,” wrote another.
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