KEVIN POWELL:It has been explosive.
I didn’t expect it.
It’s the same thing withThe Real World.
Credit: Danielle Levitt/MTV
So it’s been incredible.
[Laughs] And people are like, I’m going to sign up and get the screaming channel.
I’m like,Awesome!
This is absolutely amazing for me to see the reaction.
What did producers tell you for keep this a surprise?
They said “a house.”
They were being very evasive.
I knew it was going to be Manhattan.
because that’s where we were originally.
That’s what it felt like.
Were you nervous the first time around, and what were the emotions and feelings this time walking in?
I was definitely nervous the first time because we didn’t know what it was.
We were the first season.
There was nothing for us to watch before us, there was no season of anything before us.
Never thought that at all.
So then this time walking in, were you just as nervous?
I was ready to cry.
You gotta understand, the castmates, we’ve been in touch on text.
Me and Eric were bonding about spirituality and veganism and stuff like that.
You couldn’t have scripted this.
And we were in this institution with I Love Lucy and Carol Burnett and stuff like that.
That was the first instance of it.
This is a lot deeper than just seven strangers picked to be in a loft.
This is something that has actually shaped people’s personalities and their lives.
Just the way music has.
Just the movies have.
That’s when it hit me.
I had no idea.
I really had no idea.
I was like, “Who are all these people?”
They were watchingThe Real World, and we had no idea.
We had no idea.
Not on that level.
Do you ultimately think it ended up being a pretty accurate representation of who Kevin Powell was and is?
Well,wasat that time definitely fiery and young.
I had been in college at Rutgers University, so I had already been a student-activist, a student-leader.
So all that was a backdrop for me and it was powerful.
I was like,Wow!
And he talked about the things that he had dealt with as a gay male.
And Julie uses the term anti-racist now.
So it says a lot.
But I don’t just talk about race; I talk about sexism it’s Women’s History Month.
I talk about homophobia, transphobia.
Just casually, talking about it.
So you’ll see growth, you’ll see the evolution.
And there are certain things that didn’t have to be said, it’s just kind of understood.
That’s real to us.
What can you tease about what’s to come in the episodes?
And it’s really powerful stuff.
And can we talk about Heather’s traveling liquor case?
I will say this, we ate well because of her cooking and Norman’s cooking.
It’s almost like we were in the same house but on opposite sides of the house.
It was really beautiful.
The Real World Homecoming: New Yorkdebuts Thursday on Paramount+.
