Lee Daniels is paying it forward on Broadway.
The Oscar-nominated filmmaker attached his name to Jordan E. Cooper’s critically acclaimed new Broadway show, “Ain’t No Mo,” because “he wanted to be a vessel to help Jordan’s story and voice be heard,” an insider told Page Six.
Daniels, who is black and gay, was told there’s “no room in Hollywood for his voice” when he set out to make films like “Monster Ball” and “Precious” in the early aughts and, “It always stayed with him… he’s fighting to have voices like his on Broadway,” the insider shared.
Daniels became a fan of the play after catching it off-Broadway at The Public Theater in New York in 2019. It was then that he decided he wanted to help Cooper, 27, bring it to Broadway.
Growing up as an aspiring director, “there were no mentors for me. I didn’t even know there [were] even black directors as a kid… especially gay black directors,” Daniels said on a recent episode of “The Tamron Hall Show.”
“When I saw Jordan’s work… [I thought] you have to pass it on. So, when I saw Jordan, there was no way I couldn’t embrace him and push him forward because there’s only a few of us, yet so many of us,” Daniels said.
Cooper’s “Ain’t No Mo” debut has made him the youngest American playwright on Broadway.
Gayle King, Dwayne Wade and Gabrielle Union, who are also producers of the show, are a few of the famous faces who packed the Belasco on opening night last week.
Daniels’ onetime nemesis Mo’Nique, Katie Holmes, Sherri Shepherd, and Hall caught the provocative show during previews.
