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      *With a new headline attempting to forecast his fate appearing daily, film star and action hero Wesley Snipes as of this writing remains a Wanted Man. Unfortunately this wanted-desire doesn't come from his legions of fans, unless they happen to be employees of the U. S. Government.

     Untrue are the earlier reports that imagined a sigh of relief coming from Snipes after making a deal with the IRS to avoid jail time and repay the debt that follows his indictment on eight counts of tax fraud.

      Unrealistic is the assumption that he will be able to move from country to country working on one movie after another--postponing the inevitable. Eventually, this actor is going to have to come home and pay the piper.

      While he remains in the embracing arms of Namibia, South Africa filming the action thriller "Gallowwalker" where his character "Kaos" is cursed by a spell that promises "all who die by his gun will return," even Snipes has to admit that he has not garnered this kind of press since his infamous 1997 Ebony Magazine interview, where his not-so-favorable comments about Black women arched eyebrows with more precision than a pair of sharp tweezers. But hold the wax; the fact that there is no extradition treaty between South Africa and the United States in place is but a temporary respite; which may inspire the powers-that-be to start working on that sequel now.
 
       It's hard to believe that someone of Snipes' stature, who has appeared as an actor in over four dozen films--several of which he produced--could be associated with such a crime. While this sort of behavior is never excusable, it's certainly more palatable coming from some poor soul with few options; after all, it's not like Snipes needs the money. While his career slacked off following 2002's boxing movie "Undisputed" -sending all of his movies (with the exception of 2004's "Blade: Trinity") straight to video, he is one of the limited few Black actors who always appears to be working. His eclectic acting roles have included some of the most memorable Black-themed movies of our time: "Mo' Better Blues," "New Jack City," "Jungle Fever," "Sugar Hill," the uncredited appearance in "Waiting to Exhale," "Down in the Delta," and "Disappearing Acts"-all of which are now classics.

      A graduate of New York's acclaimed High School of the Performing Arts and BFA recipient of SUNY (State University of New York) at Purchase, Snipes, a 5th Degree Black Belt who has mastered numerous Martial Arts forms, began his acting career in the theatre, but started showing signs of the physical and mental agility that would later be his big film calling card early on. First spotted by an agent who saw him in a competition and cast him in Goldie Hawn's, "Wildcats"-- it was his appearance in Michael Jackson's 1987 ground-breaking, 16-minute, black and white to color music video "Bad" that brought him to the attention of acclaimed young filmmaker Spike Lee; who later cast him alongside Denzel Washington in "Mo' Better Blues" (1990); his first big film role and later "Jungle Fever" (1991).

      It didn't take long for mainstream Hollywood, who took a liking to the good-looking young actor, to come calling soon after; making him the Black "It Man" with crossover appeal. Snipes has been consecutively cast in diverse-genre films such as the comedic "White Men Can't Jump," the action film "Passenger 57," the crime-drama-mystery-thriller "Rising Sun," the action-sci-fi- "Demolition Man" and the courageous gender-bending "To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar"; playing such diverse characters as a basketball hustler, security agent, lieutenant, futuristic villain and drag queen. He has co-starred with some of the greatest names in the business.

      In the early days especially, in between film roles, Snipes did TV; Episodes of "Miami Vice," "Vietnam War Story," "A Man Called Hawk," "The Days and Night's of Molly Dodd" and even Children's TV, where his voice-over character used a saxophone to rid a village of rats in the "Pied Piper" episode of "Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child." 

      But alas, there is nothing more vulnerable than an artist with a little time on his hands--and possibly an inflated ego--that will get the goat of at least a segment of the population eventually. For Snipes, it was an interview in 1997 with Ebony Magazine journalist Lynn Norment. At the time, the actor had been dating Asian model and restaurateur Donna Wong for the past year and a half; and when asked if he dates Black women quipped, "Oh my God. Mostly. But it just so happens that now I'm dating an Asian woman."

      He probably should've stopped there.

      Historically, it has been duly noted that a person can do a world of good deeds, (and for the record the article noted that Snipes had been known for his "generosity"); but let them be accused of one "bad thing" and it is this, that will be forever embedded in the psyche of the public. Thus is the case of Mr. Wesley Snipes and the now-infamous interview that has become his legacy amongst women in the African American community. The widely circulated soliloquy was the only song playing for quite some time in Black Beauty Salons across the country; where women, incensed by what they deemed were "stereotypical generalizations" that should have pointed more towards individual character behavior than the faults of Black women in general; the actor turned them off further when he made what many called "negative comparisons" between them and women of other races. 

      For readers who were not privy to the original article here's a verbatim excerpt of the exchange, with a link to the entire story at the end of this article. Lynn Norment writes...

 [Wesley says he realizes that there are Black women still who get an attitude about Black men with Asian, White or Hispanic women. "I know we've all been hurt, and we're all very wounded," he says addressing Black women. "We have to acknowledge that, both male and female, in the Black experience. We're a wounded people. And we want to possess and we want to own. We don't want to compromise. We feel like we've compromised enough…He doesn't want to come home to someone who's going to be mean and aggravating and unkind and who is going to be 'please me, please me.' …He doesn't want to come home to have a fight with someone who is supposed to be his helpmate. So it's very natural that he's going to turn to some place that's more compassionate…You've worked hard and you deserve to come home to comforting. And usually a man who has that will appreciate it. Because I've never known one cat, all those cats I've hung out with and still hang out with, who found something that they really, really like and didn't go back to it. They all go back. It's very simple."

When asked for clarification, Snipes emphasizes that he is not saying that a Black woman can not be the type of woman a man wants to come home to.

"Not at all," he declares. "Absolutely not. That's the point. I want to come home and I don't want to argue. I want to be pleasing, but if I ask you to get me a glass of water, you're going to say, 'Them days is over.' Please. Come on…a man likes that. I don't know why. It's been that way forever. It makes him proud, you know, like when the guys come over and your lady comes out with a tray of food and says, 'I made this for you.' And the guys are like, 'Oh man, you've got a great woman.' And the man says, 'Yeah, I do.' A man will appreciate it when you're kind and when you're nice."]

      By the time the Ebony interview appeared, Snipes was ridin' high as an actor who had already proven himself a talent to be reckoned with. By reputation he was known to have the ability to lace a well-written line with the kind of venom-like nuance that made it memorable; and commit fully to any character thrown his way. His "Nino Brown" in Mario Van Peebles' "New Jack City" referenced the intended demise of a girlfriend with: "Cancel that bitch, I'll buy another one," and threatened an adversary with "Sit your five dollar ass down before I make change." Let's face it, it may take a great writer to come up with the lines, but it takes an even greater actor to convey them.

      Snipes, at one time, was also one of the few Black male actors-dark-skinned to boot--which Hollywood didn't seem to think twice about pairing with love-interests outside of his race. Once, when discussing the casting of "One Night Stand" -- a film originally slated for Nicolas Cage--who turned out to have a scheduling conflict--Snipes' casting was, as one would expect in a "perfect world" the result of what any casting "should" represent. The director, he says, "…wanted someone with a strong acting background," and someone "who would be attractive to [German actor] Nastassja Kinski." Snipes went on to say that there were discussions concerning whether his wife "should be" Black or...White. Something that even today is rarely an option even thought of in casting sessions with a Black male lead; not to mention an actual part of the discussion. During the same conversation Snipes referenced earlier work with Italian-American actor Annabelle Sciorra saying, "Early on there were concerns about the Black community reminiscing to "Jungle Fever," and missing the point of the story…so we didn't want to go that route. And I've done a lot of movies where I've had White women as my co-stars. That would have been kind of redundant. So I said, 'Well, let me go either Spanish or Asian. That's something unusual."
 
       Hailed as the most prominent African American action star today, the 44-year-old Snipes, who is said to be renting a home for $6,000 per month while filming in Namibia, could lose everything: his freedom, facing up to 16 years in Federal prison and his assets for alleged attempts to obtain refunds of nearly $12 million dollars in taxes and using fake checks amounting to $13 million dollars to pay taxes. In this world of constant change, where death and taxes remain the only inevitable factors, Snipes' alleged actions just don't make sense. But he is only the latest celebrity who appears to be testing the limits of his lifestyle 'cause high-profile attempts at tax evasion are certainly nothing new.

       Long before headlines about R&B singer Ron Isley, "Survivor" winner Richard Hatch or former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski the eagled-eyed government; although moving at a snails pace, eventually caught up with and brought down heavyweights like gangster Al Capone, former President Richard Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew; who both pled guilty to tax evasion charges while in office, but were it not for the Watergate scandal, may never have been audited. 
 
       Why oh why you may ask, do the financially-endowed continue their attempts to "get over" on Uncle Sam; when they must know they'll eventually get caught? Is it greed, temporary insanity, ignorance of the law? According to Certified Public Accountant Alan Duvall, "...the IRS hauled in a record $47 billion unpaid taxes through audits in fiscal year 2005...auditing about one in 63 wealthy individuals (incomes over $100,000), a rate nearly double 2001 figures [with] plans...to increase audits of this bourgeoisie taxpayer class dramatically in future years."

       The growing number of public figures being put on display for their attempts to cheat the government makes ignorance of the law an unviable excuse; but still, there are those who question the fairness of imprisoning someone for a crime such as tax-evasion when there are people who are alleged to have committed far greater crimes yet continue to walk the streets. In Snipes' case, and only time will tell: will the ability to repay back taxes outweigh the desire to punish him for the crime? If his assets cover the cost of the debt, then we can only surmise the answer may be both; but if they do not, one would have to question how sensible it would be to take away his ability to work and earn the income to repay the debt. But then again "sensible" is the operative word here. 

      **For Lynn Norment's 1997 interview with Wesley Snipes click on or paste the following website into your browser: http://myweb.cableone.net/semenza/articles/ebony1997.html

As a journalist the work of DeBorah B. Pryor continues to reach national and international audiences. She has interviewed some of the entertainment industry's most prominent people and has traveled extensively throughout the world. She is president of THE ART OF COMMUNICATION: Public speaking for private people... a unique workshop in a comfortable setting providing real-life-strategies that enable individuals from all walks of life to overcome shyness and communicate effectively at work or in front of an audience. She is a freelance writer and editor. Contact DeBorah via Email at DeBorah@Dpryorpresents.com

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