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If you watched Power on Sunday night, then you know that the episode before the finale was all about Larenz Tate‘s character, Councilman Rashad Tate. It was a pretty great performance from the actor, who got to appear alongside his real-life brother Lahmard. And in an interview with Fox Soul’s The Isiah Factor, they both talked about how the hit Starz series has helped them reach a whole new audience who may not know their work from the ’90s and early ’00s.
“The eyeballs that are on this show, the span, it’s just really, really huge,” he said. “For me, for those who may know of my past work or Lahmard’s past work, that’s great, but there’s a whole new audience that are watching [Power] and the demographic is pretty expansive. I have people from all walks of life that talk to me about how much they love [the show]. It’s just really nice to be able to be reintroduced to a whole new audience.”
A few people who aren’t watching though are Larenz’s kids. The 44-year-old actor, who is a father of four boys, the eldest 13, said his sons’ classmates see him on the series, but he won’t allow his kids to actually watch.
“It’s interesting. I have sons. One of my sons, he’s a kid. He’s 10. Well, he’s 11 now, but at the time, when he was 10, he said his friends watch the show,” he said. “My kids, they’re not allowed to watch Power. ‘Hold up, y’all can’t watch that!’ But he’s like, ‘Yeah, my friend watches you on Power and he said’ — I said, ‘Don’t listen to him! Just go read your books. Do what you need to do.’ But it’s interesting.”
Larenz’s desire to shield his boys from his work on the hit show likely has a lot to do not just with the obviously mature subject matter, but also the sex scenes, which are often very vivid. He has had a couple, including on Sunday’s episode, that have been quite graphic. But don’t be confused, as he told Angie Martinez last year, just because they look very sensual doesn’t mean he’s a fan of filming them.
“You have to understand, these love scenes, these sex scenes aren’t what people think they are,” he said at the time. “I swear! I’m a set the tone. We’re in a love scene right now. You gotta take off your clothes, I gotta take off my clothes. Now these people are all here. Mind you, it’s other people walking in and out…you’ve got to just deal with it, right? And that’s what it’s like. Are you comfortable with all these folks and the people in there and we’re in this love scene? At any moment people are on the set. It’s uncomfortable.”
He sure doesn’t look like he hates it in the moment. I call that great acting.
Check out his chat alongside brother Lahmard below:
