Having male celebrities open up about their sexual abuse is usually uncommon with an increasing number of well-known individuals facing accusations of sexual assault.
However, these sexual assaults are not limited to women, even though they may be common among them.
Sexually abused survivors are stepping forward to share their stories with friends and family after being motivated to do so. But the response is frequently not what they expect.
Here are therefore six black male celebrities who’ve been sexually abused and are opening up about their experiences, which has and is still helping to lessen the stigma associated with male sexual assault.
Mike Tyson
Mike Tyson disclosed his personal history of sexual abuse in 2014, saying that at the age of seven, he had been sexually assaulted by an unknown person. In an earlier ESPN interview, Tyson admitted to Jeremy Schapp that the incident was the reason for his violent outburst. In response to the question of why he waited until adulthood to tell anyone, Tyson said, “It was no one’s business to know; people just don’t talk about it because to some people it’s emasculating them.”
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Common
The Chicago MC discusses being sexually abused when he was “9 or 10 years old” in his 2019 memoir, One Day It’ll All Make Sense. Common acknowledges that he had suppressed the memory until he started working on the 2018 movie, The Tale, which also addresses childhood sexual abuse. He even tweeted, “I talked about being molested because, as a black man, many men have hidden that,” explaining why he felt it was important to include the incident in his biography.
Charlamagne Tha God
In an episode of TV One’s UNCENSORED, radio host Charlamagne Tha God talked candidly about his first encounters with his cousin’s ex-wife when he was eight years old. In the documentary, he claims, “My cousin’s ex-wife abused me sexually when I was eight years old. I was unaware that something was amiss until I watched Tyler Perry on Oprah Winfrey. I asked myself, ‘Why is he crying?’ I began to question whether there was a problem with me. I know it has happened a few times, but I honestly can’t recall how it began.”
Sugar Ray Leonard
In 2011, boxer Sugar Ray Leonard revealed in his memoir The Big Fight: My Life In and Out of Ring that he had been sexually abused as a teenager by his boxing coach. In his book, he writes that when he was fifteen years old, the coach was sitting with him in the car, lecturing the aspiring athlete on the value of an Olympic gold medal, when suddenly made his obscene move. His hand, then his mouth, on an area that has haunted me my entire life. I refrained from screaming. I avoided glancing at him. I simply opened the door and bolted.
Tyler Perry
During an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Perry talked candidly about his own childhood trauma involving sexual abuse. He disclosed that, by the time he was ten years old, he had experienced sexual abuse from three separate men and a woman, all of whom were known to his family.
Kevin Gates
In a 2021 Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson podcast, Kevin Gates disclosed that “I had a very violent and aggressive upbringing. I was molested as a child, not because I wanted to be, but because of that. I took every kind of martial art you can take. I did everything, even boxing. Although I always considered myself to be the toughest person on the planet, I always found solace in writing and music-making.”