After the responses he received for his performance as the gay character Thabang “T-Bang” Moeketsi on SABC1’s uBettina Wethu, actor Brighton Ngoma believes that discrimination against the LGBTQI+ community is still prevalent.

During an interview with TshisaLIVE, the actor discussed his performance as Thabang on the South African adaptation of the successful serial Ugly Betty. He has been on Scandal! for the past ten years, playing the role of Quinton, and he has stated that he is excited to take on the challenge of playing a character that is completely outside of his comfort zone.

“If you have played a character for a significant amount of time, it has a tendency to become a little repetitive and unchallenging. You are used to the difficulties, used to the crises, used to the stakes, used to the drama, and adapted to the location of the arcs in the story.

When an actor plays the same role for an extended period of time, both they and the audience may become bored with the performance. I was in desperate need of a challenge, and boy, did I get one! “I had way too much fun playing Thabang,” said Brighton. “I could have played it all night.”

Brighton also discussed the harsh feedback he received as a result of portraying Thabang, a character who is openly LGBTQI+ and who does not identify with a binary gender. He stated that he hears discriminatory comments about his character even when they are filming, and he went on to say that hatred toward the LGBTQI+ community is still very much a reality.

“I learned something new each and every day that we were shooting, and that is that there is still discrimination on the streets and among us. People that I worked closely with, not to say the departments of the production, but people are still being very closed minded,’ he wrote. “Gaping to say the departments of the production.”

“It was difficult; people avoided making eye contact with me and stayed away from me altogether while I was in character as Thabang.”

He also mentioned that people approached him and asked him if he was gay since his acting was so good; however, Brighton attributes this to his skills rather than his sexual orientation.

People kept asking me, ‘Are you gay?’ when they saw me walking down the street. To which she responded, “No, but why does it concern you?” They responded by saying, “No, no, no. It’s just that, you know, you are extremely convincing, and I’m like, ‘well, that’s because I am such a good actor,’” she said. He stated, “It is completely unrelated to any other topic or issue.”

 

The actor also discussed his well-known role on the hit television show Scandal. Tragically, Quinton was involved in an accident that caused him to lose his memories. He remarked that it was difficult to portray a person who was suffering from memory loss on stage.

“As you may be aware, I have been portraying this persona for the past decade. “After ten years of playing this character, suddenly forgetting all of the people and the world that you have kind of created this character in was quite a challenge,” said Brighton. “It felt like I had lost a part of myself.”

The celebrity also offered some words of wisdom to viewers who are concerned for themselves while following the drama of Quinton.

He stated that there is no cure, no solution, and no quick fix like a slap on “the head and immediately your memory comes back.” There is no overnight treatment, there is no solution, and there is no quick fix like a slap on “the head.”