Opinion: The crucial takeaway from the backlash against ‘Creed III’ stars

Editor’s Note: Peniel E. Joseph is the Barbara Jordan chair in ethics and political values and founding director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is a professor of history. He is the author of “The Third Reconstruction: America’s Struggle for Racial Justice in the Twenty-First Century.” The views expressed here are his own. View more opinion on CNN.

CNN
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Note: Spoilers follow for “Creed III.”

Michael B. Jordan and Jonathan Majors, two of the most talented actors of their generation, are redefining Black masculinity in America.

They took the box office by storm over the weekend as stars of “Creed III” — the blockbuster spinoff from the “Rocky” movie franchise that follows the trajectory of Adonis Creed, the son of Rocky nemesis turned martyred friend Apollo. Its record-breaking opening made it the biggest sports movie opening of all time.

“Creed III” is more than a boxing film. It is an artistic meditation on the complications of Black masculinity in the 21st century. Jordan, who stars and directs, and Majors, whose rising star is also on display as the complicated villain Kang in Marvel Studios’ latest “Ant Man” film, have been strikingly open in expressing their mutual admiration and love for one another as friends and as colleagues.

During one interview Majors suggested future collaborations would be in store, ones that would remind the public of the film partnership between Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino, two of the most celebrated and iconic actors that emerged from the New Hollywood era of the 1970s. Jordan and Majors, both still only in their 30s, represent an enormously positive evolution in and bright future for the depiction of Black men in movies and television. Both on screen and in real life, they are modeling and normalizing a vision of Black masculinity capable of defying homophobic tropes regarding the ability of boys and men to reveal their vulnerability and openly profess love.

After photos of the two actors playfully embracing one another recently went viral, the backlash was fierce — driven by homophobic reactions rejecting such open affection displayed…