Philly Boxer Yusaf Mack: A Cautionary Tale and Inspirational Story


Yusaf Mack

Yusaf Mack

For good or bad, the surfacing of sex tapes has become a normal occurrence for people who are on the rise to fame or already famous. People have even become famous because of sex tapes; however, the emergence of a gay sex tape featuring an American professional boxer is totally new and uncharted territory.

Yusaf Mack, a professional boxer out of Philadelphia, has fought several former world champions, including Alejandro Berrio, Glen Johnson and Carl Froch. Now, Mack is fighting harsh criticism and backlash from the discovery of his participation in a film called “Holiday Hump’n,” which centers around a threesome with “Philly” (Yusaf Mack) and two other males, “Bamm Bamm” and “Young Buck.” Mack claimed he was drugged and forced to do the film, but he has since “come clean” and admitted to his voluntary participation in the porn. He has also publicly stated that he is “bisexual”, and then later stated that he is “gay”. There is a lot of value in Yusaf Mack’s story. He not only forces the public to reevaluate perceptions of what a gay man looks like and acts like, but he also undermines Black gay male stereotypes and simplistic notions of sexuality and masculinity. We can learn a great deal from the development of events that led to his own admission that Mack is, in fact gay, including the forces at work around Black masculinity, homophobia and sexism.

The Black Male Image as a Commodity

There are economic, interpersonal, and socio-historical influences around how African American men learn to conceptualize their masculine identities. These factors make it extremely and uniquely difficult for Black men to freely and safely explore their gender expression, sexual orientation and/or sexual identity, even for heterosexual Black men who do not fit into the confines of Black masculinity. Historically, Black gay athletes are not welcomed with open arms and “coming out” can be detrimental to ones career, especially within spheres (basketball, football, hip hop, etc) that are viscerally culturally resistant to alternative identity norms.

This is important because Yusaf Mack has had to weigh the costs and rewards of coming out for several years, in which many people were affected, including his 10 children and fiancée. There is no doubt that Yusaf Mack thought about the ramifications his identity would have on his career and his ability to pay his bills. There are very few positive examples of openly gay Black male athletes or entertainers, especially gay Black boxers. There is no blueprint for a Black gay athlete and the rare examples that do exist do not offer any comfort. One’s identity acts as currency in many cases, where gay performers are urged to conceal their sexual identity because it can ruin their careers or where production companies use one’s identity to profit in very problematic ways.

History of Sexuality for Black Men and Women

The history of sexual oppression within and across the Black community explains, in the flesh, Mack’s need to hide his sexual orientation in the first place. Sexual oppression and trauma is a common thread for Black men and women, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity. We can still see the ramifications around the ways in which Black women were excluded from the feminist movement leading to a void in experiencing the gender liberation and freedom of sexual expression that white women enjoyed. Black men have long been forced to conceal their sexual orientation because homosexuality ran counter to the image of Black manhood and masculinity. These socio-historical realities continue to impede Black expression around gender and sexual identity today. Mack’s story shows us that shame and embarrassment continue to plague our Black lives, forcing people to feel the need to hide who they are.

Using Sexism To Reinforce Manhood

Though it seems to be slowly changing as we live through a progressive uptick around sexual fluidity, sexual identity and gender expression, Black men are still socially forced to live within rigid confines around what it means to be a Black man. We have not completely accepted or embraced the varied expressions of masculinity outside of socially constructed confines. Though varied representations and expressions of Black masculinity are slowly making it to the big screen, the rigid archetype embedded within American cultural logic of a Black masculinity that glorifies objectification of women, dominance and hyper-masculinity is still pervasive.

The materialization of this is evident. Consider Yusaf Mack’s initial response to rumors that he was gay. He immediately claimed that he loved women and was a “whoremonger”. Mack’s initial counter was to immediately defend himself by demeaning women. Black women, both in language and material life, should never be the victims of a man’s identity crisis and development. Too often they are. Unfortunately, Black men often use coping mechanisms, such as sexual access to women and prowess, to communicate and reinforce their manhood in the public sphere. One cannot ignore the performance of masculinity as it relates to Mack having 10 children. Sexual access to women and prowess signify that a Black man is, well, a man, which acts as a veil to protect Black men who may be gay from gay rumors. These dynamics cannot continue.

The Importance of Agency In Coming Out

Studies show that the aftermath of coming out is positive for gay men and lesbian women, allowing people to embrace their sexual orientation, establish community, and be true to themselves. However, the circumstances around Mack coming out are not positive. Mack was outed because he participated in a sex tape, for which he was paid approximately 4500 dollars. It is hard to believe that Mack thought this film would never see the light of day, but more importantly, if one is participating in a gay sex tape because he/she is strapped for cash, it speaks to the lack of agency around his ability to strategically and safely come out. I am going to predict that Mack won’t get a reality show, won’t get a standing ovation, and he wont be held up on a pedestal by either the LGBT community or the Black community. He won’t be considered a hero and he will not get a page in the history books because race and sexual orientation operate in a matrix that works and looks very differently for African-Americans, particularly gay Black men in the arena of sports. We have moved forward in society, but we have not moved towards a more accepting space for Black gay athletes by any stretch of the imagination. This fact is not lost on Yusaf Mack’s struggle to embrace who he is at a time when he is at the end of his career as a boxer (retiring last year).

Yusaf Mack’s story is both cautionary and inspirational, especially as he successfully moves forward with his life as a proud gay Black man. The forces of Black masculinity, heterosexism and homophobia all work as interlocking systems of oppression in the case of Yusaf Mack, indicating that we still have a very long road ahead of us as we untangle the gridlock of race, class and gender. In exploring these intersections, there is no better case study than the story of Yusaf Mack.