Justin Simien

Justin Simien is a Black gay American filmmaker and writer known for Dear White People (2014), a sharp satire about race at an Ivy League university that he expanded into a Netflix series (2017–2021), and for Bad Hair (2020), a horror comedy about hair and Black identity during the BET era. He came out as gay publicly and has spoken about being a Black gay man making work that centers race and identity simultaneously in an industry that would prefer it do one or the other. He has been involved in LGBTQ+ advocacy and mentorship.