Blair Underwood is detailing why he opted to not join “ Sex and the City ” three seasons before his iconic turn as Dr. Robert Leeds. Underwood told the A.
V. Club that he first turned down a role earlier in the series that centered on Kim Cattrall dating a Black man. (While Underwood did not include the specific episode in the A.
V. Club interview, he did confirm to Vulture in 2021 that it was in fact for the controversial Season 3, Episode 5 titled “No Ifs, Ands, or Butts.”) Underwood was later cast as fan favorite sports medicine physician Dr.
Robert Leeds, who becomes Miranda’s (Cynthia Nixon) boyfriend after moving into her building. The character appeared in multiple episodes of Season 6 in 2003. “I actually did say ‘no’ the first time,” Underwood said.
“The first time they had offered the role, to be honest with you, it was about how Samantha was fascinated by dating a Black man and wanted to know if, uh, all of the rumors were true about our anatomy! And I said, ‘Listen, I’m honored, thank you, but I just don’t want to play a character based on race, on curiosity about a Black man.'” Years later, Underwood was contacted by the “Sex and the City” executive producers once more. He asked the team if the storyline would “be about race” this time too.
“They said, ‘No, no, no, we’re not even gonna mention race!'” Underwood said. “And I think it really did only come up maybe once. I did five episodes, and I think Samantha mentioned .