Historically, the representation of gay African American men on television has not been up to par. We have seen “sissies, fags and finger-snapping queens” parade across the screen, feminizing and marginalizing African-American men through these racist and homophobic caricatures. In this article, I examine the characters: Keith Charles from HBO's Six Feet Under, Omar Little from HBO's The Wire, Lafayette Reynolds from HBO's True Blood, and Julien Lowe from FX's The Shield and how their characters manifest their masculinity. All three characters who appear on the HBO shows are portrayed as strong, masculine, and openly gay men. Only Lowe, the only African-American gay man to appear in an hour-long cable television series, is a closeted gay character. Given that the "out" characters appear on HBO and the closeted character appears on basic cable, is it possible that an audience that can afford to pay for HBO would be tolerant of the portrayal of male homosexual men whereas an audience watching on basic cable will not. of this representation? Or is HBO's marketing campaign, "It's not television, it's HBO", an experiment in "genre, combined with their strategy of distancing themselves from television, resulting in a distinctive brand name and a notable schism between pay cable and broadcast television” (Jaramillo, 60). ). Or rather, is the HBO audience the ones who are able to pay for an HBO subscription, simply by watching these characters? Are these characters just a variation on the “fat black male” stereotype aimed at a post-modern audience – comfortable with explorations of male, racialized, gay desire? HBO's marketing is certainly trying to position itself as a cut above television, airing programs that are middle of the line......although he is tall and strong, Julien's masculinity is kept in check in an aggressive and violent manner by his peers. When the rumor that Julien is gay spreads, his fellow officers beat and intimidate him. Despite his stature, Julien quietly submits to their threats and intimidation. Literally, Julien’s masculinity is “policed” by his fellow police officers. Much like Patricia Hill Collins' assertion about image control and that depictions of black women as moms and matriarchs function as "powerful ideological justifications" for "intersecting oppressions of race, class, gender and of sexuality” (p. 69), the same can be applied. to the dominant images of black male masculinity, the “faggot and the queen.” Images of control serve to justify various oppressions by distorting reality by reducing the stereotypical submissive black body to a controllable object..