Davionte “GaTa” Ganter, musician and actor on FX’s Dave series based on Lil Dicky’s aspiring dreams to take over the rap world, recently sat down with Deadline to discuss racism in America.
When asked how he was handling the current state of the world, regarding the recent deaths of African American’s at the hands of police, he said it hurts “as a black man, to see our life not be valued.”
“I went to protest because it’s a mind-blowing thing for the world to wait this long to shed light on something that’s been happening for over 400 plus years,” GaTa stated. “Historically, the system in America is just so f**ked up. So, it really makes me sad.”
GaTa continued, saying that growing up, he became fearful of police-based on how they treated black people.
“Me growing up, I was never raised to be racist. But coming from where I come from, how the cops harassed people of my color, it instilled a little bit of fear in me,” he expressed. “I would be kind of scared to get pulled over, even if my license was legit.”
He also shared that since he’s on TV, he no longer feels like a threat to white people compared to non-famous people.
“I’ve been lucky, I’ve been around the world, and I get to tap into so many different cultures. But at the same time, it really does hurt me as a Black man, to see our life not valued the way it should be. And it sucks because I’m on a path and I’m perceived as a successful Black man, so white people don’t see me as a threat no more. And that’s what kills me. ’Oh, if I wasn’t on TV, or if I wasn’t next to Dicky, or if I wasn’t in the LA Times, you would be looking at me like a threat,” he added.
Elsewhere in the interview, GaTa opened up about his battle with bipolar disorder, which was re-enacted in an episode of the series. He explained his reaction when Dicky came to him interested in telling his story based on his experiences.
“At first, I had to backpedal. I’m like, ‘Hold on, you about to expose my mental… My state of mind. And It’s a stigma around this bro. People going to be judging me, man. I’m embarrassed about this. I wasn’t even comfortable, really at first, telling you about this. So, you about to put this out there,’” he responded to Dicky.
However, he quickly got on board when he realized how many people he’d be helping with his condition.
“And then I had to think about it. I have the support system of Michael Hertz [manager], my mom, my sister, Dicky, all telling me like, ‘You’re going to be inspiring people. You’re going to be touching people. There’s a million people in the world just like you.’ So, with them reinforcing that, that’s what made me want to share the story. But I’m not going to lie, at first, I didn’t want to do it,” he continued.
He went on to explain how he was experiencing side effects of his medication while onset of the show, which forced him to be honest with his team.
“One day, I came to rehearsal, and I was a little bit lethargic, lazy, I wasn’t there, I wasn’t focusing, because I was so heavily… I don’t want to say it… I was on my medicine. My medicine still had effects from the next day, and they saw that. So, I had no choice but to open up and tell my team the truth, because I’m here to do a job. I’m here to be a hype man, but right now, I’m laid out on the couch, I’m about to pass out, or whatever the case may be. So, I just had to open up to them, man. That was a real story. I really lived that moment,” he shared.
He also shared the response he received from fans after the episode premiered.
“I touched so many Black people that look just like me,” he said. “I’m getting emotional right now because, when the episode came out, I’m in my neighborhood on Crenshaw and 120th, where I grew up at. An older Black lady comes up to me, she’s crying, and she’s telling me like, ‘Yo, I was going to commit suicide. I watched [Dave], and your episode touched me.’ So just, every day I wake up, man, it just makes me feel good, bro, because I was embarrassed at first, bro, to take this medication. It made me feel so good, man, to share my story like that.”
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