I… feel like we’ve turned some sort of corner in celebrity journalism today. PAPER magazine has a blisteringly hot interview and photo shoot with Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood star (and recent “Let Me Pick You Up with TS Madison” guest!) Milan Christopher – the results can be seen below, but I warn you, this is beyond NSFW. We are in full-on gay porn mode here. And GOD BLESS. I suppose Grindr and Snapchat and PornHub and Tumblr have pushed the boundaries for what’s acceptable for photo shoots, so why NOT incorporate what’s going on in real life into magazine editorials? It would be archaic and prudish not to do otherwise.
Here’s a portion of his fascinating interview, before we delve into one of the super-scandalous pics.
PAPER: What made you want to do or what made you agree to do like a fully nude shoot?
MILAN: Well, I just feel like in our culture it’s so taboo for a guy to show their bodies but it’s ok for a woman to do it. I just kinda want to break that. I think I have a nice body and I think it’s art and I just think that it should be celebrated like they celebrate women’s bodies. So you know, I could be a guy and be gay and be black and be artistic and be artistic in a nude fashion shoot in the same way that anybody else could.Yeah, and you mention all the different things that you are, because you tick many boxes — which, if any of those, communities do you feel like will most embrace the shoot and which will not embrace the shoot?
I think that all communities have like kind of walls that need to be broken down so I’m not really sure. I’m not really sure which one would be like, “Oh, this is awesome,” or which ones would be like, “He shouldn’t have did that,” you know? I think it will be a mixture of both — I think that some people will see the art in it and I think that some people will see something else but that’s just human nature.You overlap these different identities–you’re black, you’re gay, you’re artistic–do you think about this question of how do you balance these different sides of yourself? Do you kind of transcend all these roles? Do you even think about them separately ?
I think about them separately because they are very separate. But I also feel like all those things encompass who I am. During pride month, I always think about all of the things that the LGBT community lacks and things that I feel like should be changed. And I think about equality, and the stigma and the taboo, and all the things that we work so hard to break through. So I think that this particular shoot, I think this is really important for not just the culture but for the community and pop culture in general. I’ve never seen it done in you guys’ magazine before and I’ve really never seen it done in a way where it’s like woah. It’s been years–I think something [there was something like it in] the 70s–I forget the actor, but he did a full frontal and it was really crazy.Burt Reynolds.
Burt Reynolds, yes.I don’t even think that he showed dick, but he did this nude thing for Cosmopolitan and it was a huge scandal.
And so I want that. I want that “break the internet” moment. I want people to look at this and be like, “Oh, wow, it’s ok.” This guy is a musician, he’s on TV. He’s doing this, he’s doing that but it’s ok.Do you think about representing gay African Americans?
I do—I think it’s not that many gay guys who are African American who are out and who are comfortable? Right now, I can probably name about 5. And it’s millions, you know what I mean? I do think that I have a huge [responsibility for] representation of the community and I do think that I’m doing pretty well. I’m always being honest and being my authentic self, not really holding back and just putting my best face forward and trying to make things happen.
Read the whole interview here. And hold onto your wigs because I’m going to post one of the pics by Matthias Vriens-McGrathbelow. You’ll have to go to PAPER to see the rest.
Now maybe you want to revisit his “Let Me Pick You Up” episode…