Jesse Williams says speaking out cost him film roles and Harry Belafonte helped carry him through it

Actor Jesse Williams says standing up against racial injustice came at a steep price. He says it cost him movie work and brought threats aimed at him and his family. In a new documentary, he credits the late Harry Belafonte with helping him get through it.

Williams, best known for his years on the medical drama "Grey's Anatomy," tells the story in "Following Harry," a film about Belafonte's final years. Since Oct. 13, it has been available on demand through services that include Amazon and Apple TV.

A speech with a cost

The turning point came in 2016, when Williams accepted the Humanitarian Award at the BET Awards and used the stage to speak out about racial injustice. The speech drew wide attention. Williams says Belafonte left him a message soon afterward warning that a backlash was coming, something the actor admits he had not seen ahead.

The warning proved right. Williams says specific threats against him and his family followed. He also recalls hearing that movie parts were his until a high-ranking executive pushed back because of his politics. He has not said which studios were involved.

'Made me feel held'

A few weeks after the awards show, Williams went to see Belafonte at his home. He says that visit "made me feel held" during a rocky stretch of his life. It also shaped the projects he chose to take on from then on.

Belafonte died in 2023 at age 96. For decades he paired his entertainment career with civil rights organizing, working beside Martin Luther King Jr. and other movement leaders. In the film, he talks about the courage it takes for performers to put their careers on the line by speaking out against racism and inequality.

The Ebony cover

The two men had shared a magazine cover before. Williams and Belafonte posed with Zendaya for Ebony's December 2015/January 2016 anniversary issue. In the film, Williams says he hesitated to take part at first because all three of them were light-skinned. His hope was for the cover to show a broader range of skin tones that better matched the people doing grassroots work.

Inside 'Following Harry'

Susanne Rostock directed the documentary, which tracks the final dozen years of Belafonte's life, when he mentored a younger generation of artists and activists. It covers organizing that grew out of the Trayvon Martin killing and the Ferguson, Missouri, protests. Jamie Foxx, Angela Davis and Carmen Perez also appear.

Williams says Belafonte's support helped steer the work he has done ever since.