Jeffersons actor says costar Sherman Hemsley was also gay, deserves a posthumous Emmy

It’s hard to believe that 50 years ago, the iconic show The Jeffersons premiered. The show was a groundbreaking spin-off of All in the Family. It would go on to run for 11 seasons, becoming one of the longest-running sitcoms in American television history.

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Created by Norman Lear, The Jeffersons wasn’t just a ratings juggernaut. It was a cultural phenomenon. The show aired at a time when most depictions of Black life on television were steeped in struggle, i.e. Good Times and Sanford and Son. Yet here were the Jeffersons, who were rich, opinionated, flawed, funny, and, for once, unapologetically at the center of their own story.

And yet, as The Jeffersons turns 50, some of its key players and their stories remain on the margins. One of them is Damon Evans, who portrayed Lionel Jefferson, the Jeffersons’ son, for three seasons. Evans replaced original actor Mike Evans (no relation), who left the show after one season and would later return.

Today, Damon Evans is ready to talk, not just about his own complicated journey as an out gay Black actor on one of America’s biggest shows, but also about the man who held it all together: Sherman Hemsley.

“There wouldn’t have been a Jeffersons without Sherman,” Evans said during a recent interview. “And yet, even after 11 seasons, he was only nominated once for an Emmy.”

Evans, who went on to a successful career in classical music and theater, said he was also at the Stonewall Riots of 1969. “There were more Black and brown people there than people realize,” he said. “The Village didn’t always welcome us. But something shifted. A friend turned to me and said, ‘Damon, this was our Rosa Parks moment.”

The actor said he’s speaking now to illuminate what others wouldn’t or couldn’t during the show’s original run about Hemsley. Evans said the actor didn’t get the accolades or recognition that he so deserved.

“I think the last time I saw Sherman was when I went to the National Black Theater Festival to collect an award in his honor. I gave it to him,” he recalled. “That was in the early 2000s. And I did see Isabel [Sanford], Roxie [Roker], Franklin Cover, some of the original cast for a People magazine story once. But Sherman? He was always a little separate.”

And by “separate,” Evans said he meant that Hemsley was not one to seek the spotlight. “He was a very humble guy, unlike George in the show.”

Evans also described Hemsley as a consummate professional. “He was a man of fearlessness who could plow through any script and always end up with a flawless performance.”

Still, the work didn’t always come easy. “Remember, we had an all-white, heterosexual writing staff,” Evans said. “Sherman wasn’t bothered by anything that may’ve appeared derogatory, whereas I was. I remember one episode with a cheap gay joke. I felt so uncomfortable. But Sherman, he just rolled with the punches.”

Rumors around Hemsley’s sexuality have swirled for decades, even after his death at 74 in 2021. Evans claims that Hemsley was gay. Hemsley never came out publicly during his lifetime. A 2007 VH1 story that listed three favorite allegedly gay black actors from the past put Hemsley in the top spot.

“We cruised the same places, went to the same parties. The same bars. But it wasn’t something we talked about,” Evans said. He said he was “sure” Hemsley knew he was gay. “You have to remember, it was a different time, so you just didn’t talk about those things at work.”

However, Evans says that Hemsley, who lived a relatively guarded life, didn’t hide a partner during filming.

“He was dating a Puerto Rican guy. They lived together. His boyfriend came to our tapings. They even did a lounge act in Vegas during hiatus,” Evans said. “That was Sherman, he was just who he was, and he marched to the beat of his own drum.”

Still, none of this was ever public. “I just didn’t understand why it needed to be hidden for so long, but Sherman really didn’t like being in the spotlight.”

Evans said that Sherman’s gay contemporaries in the business were predominantly based in New York City. “I’m sure that’s because they felt safer,” Evans recalled. “They were also mostly serious actors. SNL’s Garrett Morris, who is straight, is the only other contemporary of Sherm’s who had such success in television comedy. In that restricted and limited area, Sherman was the king!”

“Sherman wasn’t some stuck-up star,” Evans said.

Evans reflected on the quiet inequity Hemsley faced. “Isabel Sanford won an Emmy. Florence [Gibbs] was nominated several times. But Sherman? Just once. That’s outrageous,” he said. “But I don’t think it really bothered Sherman because he didn’t care much for awards, I think. When he got his first NAACP Image Award, he told me to go accept it for him. He didn’t even attend.”

That humility was often mistaken for irreverence, Evans said.

“He showed up at some awards show in tennis shoes and a T-shirt painted like a tuxedo. That was Sherman. I think the industry viewed him as saying, ‘F*** you.’ But I don’t think he was trying to be rebellious. That just wasn’t his style.”

Evans credits Hemsley with making space for real representation on screen. “Sherman played a Black man who called white people 'honky' on national TV. And the show also had the first depiction of a Black trans character on network television,” Evans recounted, referring to the character played by cisgender actress Veronica Redd. “I consider her my cousin.”

Still, the cast dynamics weren’t always smooth. “I loved Roxie (Roker),” Evans gushed. “If I had been straight, I would’ve proposed to her. Lenny [Kravitz, Roker’s son] was such a sweet kid. But there was tension with Isabel. Someone once told me, 'Watch out for the woman who plays your mother. I can tell she doesn’t like you.' She was older, in fact, she was 21 years older than Sherman. Now, she was very professional, but she also was the boss. Some of the cast members called her ‘the queen.’

Evans said that Hemsley wasn’t caught up with who was the star or costar of the show. “Isabel’s name was first in the credits, so that tells you all you need to know, but Sherman could have cared less about something like that.”

He added, “Since Sherman never played the star, I think a lot of people just took him for granted, including the industry. He had so much going against him at the time, being Black and being gay, but he just didn’t seek out the attention. That was not his style.”

Evans said that coming forward now and speaking about his days on The Jeffersons is all about Helmsley finally getting the laurels he didn’t get 50 years ago.