JAY-Z will be honored by The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) with a special recognition award at the 29th Annual GLAAD Media Awards. Mr. Carter will be recognized for “Smile,” a song and visual from his 4:44 album that shared his mother Gloria Carter’s experience as a lesbian and acceptance of his mother’s identity.
JAY raps “Mama had four kids, but she’s a lesbian/ Had to pretend so long that she’s a thespian/ Had to hide in the closet, so she medicate/ Society shame and the pain was too much to take.” Later he adds: Cried tears of joy when you fell in love / Don’t matter to me if it’s a him or her / I just wanna see you smile through all the hate.”
On the Dusse Friday podcast, Ms. Carter described coming out to her son. “I just finally started telling Jay who I was. Besides your mother, this is the person that I am. This is the life that I live,” she said. “So my son started actually tearing. He’s like, That had to be a horrible life, ma. I was like, my life was never horrible, it was just different. So that made him want to do the song.”
The 29th Annual GLAAD Media Awards will take place on April 12 in Beverley Hills, California and in New York on May 5.
