Michael B. Jordan, 31, is on the cover of this month’s issue of GQ, in which he is profiled as one of their Men of the Year. MBJ’s interviews are pretty formulaic: the interviewer talks of his innate charisma or warmth, mentions his impossible smile, and likely meets his parents because MBJ still lives in a home with his family. Eventually he makes his way to talking about how Denzel Washington is his role model, though he ultimately wants to be an actor on par with Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, his ambitions unsoiled by racist typecasting or strictly “black” roles. He insists, I mean insists, that he’s not dating anyone, ever.
Another topic the puffy-cheeked hunk has contended with more than once is the pesky rumor that he doesn’t date black women. Speaking to GQ in relation to the rumor he says: “Like, damn. Of all the places that I’m getting this, it’s coming from here?” He also addressed the matter in his Vogue 73 questions video, saying it was one of the weirdest things he’d ever heard about himself. The rumor has its roots in the murky annals of the internet but also, somewhat, in his own dating history, which has skewed rather… beige. This is a not-even-sly bid to maintain his universal appeal and not piss off a contingent which he knows is a large part of his horny fan base. I, a black woman, would like the world to know that I do not care at all whether Michael B. Jordan dates white women. What I want to know is why was the movie Creed seemingly six hours long, with no intermission, and why is the film’s climax MBJ’s character losing a fight? I saw the film in theaters that winter, and I confess to frequent micro naps throughout the production, but everytime I was awake, he was either detangling someone’s hair or losing a fight. Maybe I should rewatch?