Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist's Alex Newell aims to be the queer black icon he never had

HuffPost

The Glee alum is making his mark on NBC musical dramedy as Mo, a sassy gender-nonconforming neighbor who becomes the first of Zoey’s friends to catch on to her newfound superpower. Newell, who is also gay and gender-nonconforming and uses the pronouns “he” and “his,” draws on a lot of real-life experience to play Mo. “You never really see a nonbinary character’s dating life ever on television, or you don’t see someone that’s effeminate or plus-size have a love interest on TV,” he tells the Huffington Post. “I was like, ‘Let’s do that.’ He took everything I said into account, and we see all of that throughout the season. Mo gets to be a ho!”