Playing Hondo, is there a responsibility that you feel to the LAPD or to the Black community in how he’s portrayed? Yes, there’s a pressure and a huge responsibility to stay Black, to be proud of your Blackness, but also not to be anti-other, white or any other. I’ve lived my life seeing color, because I’m not blind, but not judging by color, judging by character. So, I’m with you until you do me wrong, regardless of what color you are, and that’s how I live my life. I like that I’m able to incorporate that into Hondo. His father said to him in the pilot, “If you want things to change then you’ve got to go out there and be the change.” It’s difficult, and sometimes seemingly impossible, but if you quit, then nothing changes. If you don’t quit, then change is possible. So, that’s the mentality of Hondo, and myself, in life. Will Hondo change now that he’s going to be a dad? You’ll definitely see a softer side of him. You’re going to see the vulnerabilities, and—all of a sudden—the questions and the concerns that he’s never had to worry about. He’s always gone out there and fended for himself and put other lives ahead of his own. So now you’re going to see Hondo dealing with trying to be the team leader and his alpha male ways, taking on the bad guys by any means necessary, but now he’s worried, will he abandon his child? Will he have a child that doesn’t have a father? And what’s he going to do to avoid that? So, you’ll feel that struggle of him questioning that, but all the while having to get the job done and be there for his team. Any chance Debbie Allen might return to her role as Hondo’s mom because her grandbaby’s going to be born? She’s a busy lady, as is Obba Babatunde who plays my father. I know Obba texts me at least twice a week going, “When’s Daddy coming home?” But yes, of course, I’m sure we’re going to see a whole kumbaya moment of family togetherness celebrating the birth of Hondo Jr. Talk about the balance—as you always say in the show—between Black and blue. Hondo was born in South L.A., which is inner city, which is the hood. From the pilot, he’s got one foot in law enforcement, and the demands and the politics of it, but he insists and prides himself on keeping another foot at home. There was a great line in the pilot where another Black man confronting Hondo said, “Are you Black or blue?” So, Hondo struggles with: Do I have to be one or the other? If I’m a cop, does that make me a sellout to my people, to my community? Or can Hondo do both, to where he can create a little more patience, truce, peace and understanding, and bridge the gap of a lot of the fears and ill wills and conflict between civilians, especially the Black community, and police officers. How much of you is in Hondo? Hondo’s full Black in the story, where I’m half Black and half white myself, but there are a lot of parallels and a lot of differences. Shemar has a lot more fun than Hondo does; Hondo’s a serious cat. His backstory includes going into the military, being a Marine and what he has to take on, like the pressures of being a leader and being a Black man in that position, and not wanting to make any mistakes. But I know in my own life, I’d like to think that my success and the way I carry myself, I want people of color, and I want young people period, to believe that it’s possible, that you can go out there and be somebody and be successful. Not necessarily be a star, but just that success is possible. And so that’s the greatest part of whatever fame I may have or whatever reach I have, is that it’s nice when people like the shows that I’m on, and like what I do, and like me. But it’s the biggest compliment when somebody says to you that they’re inspired by you to better themselves or to take risks and see what they’re capable of. When S.W.A.T. premiered in 2017, the Black Lives Matters movement hadn’t reached the crescendo that it did in 2020. Would you say that the show has changed to meet the times? I think the answer to that is a little bit of both. I don’t feel like we have to keep up with the times, but I like that we do address the times from time to time. We’re an entertainment show. We’re not here to be heavy handed and to preach. We’re not a political show, we’re not a religious show. We’re a good time, and our show sees no color and sees no age. The only issue that a family might have [with the show] is whatever parents’ opinions are of their children seeing guns. But I like to believe that we use guns in an entertainment value type of way and in an optimistic way. Yes, we shoot bad guys, but our show’s not gory, it’s not bloody. I think that we’re a unique show in that it’s almost like watching a movie every week on television. You hear that theme song, and you know you’re going to have a good time. You know you’re going to see some fun action, whether it’s helicopter stunts, car chases, motorcycle chases, hand-to-hand combat, or us being super cops and saving the day. So, it’s a fun show, but then at the same time we can get topical. We talked about Black Lives Matter [on the show] because it was the right thing to do. I’m a Black man wearing a SWAT uniform. When George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and the like happened, I told the producers, “We can’t ignore that.” Do we have to preach to that? No, but we can address that. Because Hondo is a Black man, Shemar is a Black man and the lead of a show, I feel like we need to be aware and show that we’re aware. So, I like that we’ve been bold enough to take on Black Lives Matter, suicide by cops, school shootings and human trafficking. So, we do pick topical things, but again, we don’t do it heavy handedly. What is it like on the set? The cast loves each other. Of course, I’m biased, but on the set of S.W.A.T., pound for pound, from the cast to the writers to the producers to the crew to the caterers, we don’t have any a–holes. Everybody has a bad day, but we are like a close-knit family. The camaraderie and the chemistry that you see from the cast, that’s how we are in real life. They come over to my house, I go over their houses. Jay Harrington has a pizza shop. We go to his pizza shop and watch S.W.A.T. and football games. People come to my house and swim, play cornhole, play pool and just hangout and watch the games. We have Sunday fun days and things like that. What kind of training did the team undergo prior to season 1? Before the pilot, we had three months of training by San Diego PD SWAT, LAPD SWAT, and SEAL Team Six members, so we did serious training so that we could look and move like a well-oiled machine because that’s what they do in real life. What we’re doing is not real, but we take a lot of pride in emulating the real men and women of law enforcement. We only do what is really done in the real world, protecting citizens on the screen. We never go over the top like you may see in movies like Fast and Furious, things like that. We keep it 100 percent authentic to how SWAT deals with chasing down bad guys. You’ve said that without Y&R, you couldn’t have done Criminal Minds, and without Criminal Minds, you wouldn’t have S.W.A.T. What was it that told you that it was time to move on from each show? I don’t like to stay too comfortable too long. When I did Young and the Restless, I was on there for about seven seasons and then I left for about three years and did a little of this and did a little of that. And then I came back for about a year three years later, after I had shot Tyler Perry’s movie and was waiting for it to come out. I went back and honored the source of what started my career. I did another year to be able to work with my dear friend, may he rest in peace, Kristoff St. John, and Tonya Lee Williams and Victoria Rowell. That’s where it all started for me, but I knew I wanted to keep growing to see how high I could fly as an actor. I’m always trying to challenge myself and so I wanted to take that next step, while also not knowing if it would happen. My mother gave me a card before she passed that I still keep in my office. It’s very simple, it says, “Leap and the net will appear.” I take chances. I just believe. You don’t know where you’re going to land but jump and trust that you will land. And if something scares you, run into that fear and turn that into your confidence, turn that into your strength. I remember by year five of Young and the Restless, I got antsy, and I was like, “I know it’s time to take that leap.” I ended up doing seven years and it was very scary to leave, it was very hard to leave my [TV] family, but I left just to see what else was out there. Fast forward, all of a sudden Tyler Perry’s movie happened, then Criminal Minds happened, and then there I was with 11 years on that. On Criminal Minds, by season 7 I got that itch again. But it was finding the right time, and obviously playing the game and using your agents and managers to get the word out that you’re looking to take another step. And so, by season 11, I was like, “If I don’t try now, it’s never going to happen.” And so, it was just me taking yet another risk, not knowing what was in front of me. Has the net ever failed to appear? I invested my own money in a movie called The Bounce Back, and I got my a$$ kicked financially at the box office, but I still made a really cute movie that’s been well received by people who have seen it. It also helped me get my producing credit. It taught me a lot about behind the scenes, behind the camera, so, it was my learning curve. And then next thing you know, I get a call and I’m offered S.W.A.T. So here I am in season 6 of S.W.A.T. and I already know now that as much as I’m enjoying this ride and appreciate my position and the success of the show, I’m anxious for what the next step is going to be. It’s just going to be finding a window and the right time to take that next leap. Your mom Marilyn has passed, but you got involved with MS because of her diagnosis. Are you still involved in that? My dream, while my mother was alive, was that before she passed that I’d be able to look her in the eye and say, “We found a cure for MS.” That didn’t come to pass, but just because mom’s gone doesn’t mean the fight to find the cure to MS is over. I’ve now fallen in love with the sport of cornhole with some castmates and friends, so we’re planning to do some cornhole events to continue to raise money and awareness about MS. And hopefully raise enough money to help research it.
