ET spoke with the former ambassador to the Bahamas about her father, Clarence's, impact.
Nicole Avant couldn't be happier to continue to share her father, Clarence Avant's, story with the world in The Black Godfather. The 2019 documentary, available on Netflix, tells the story of the music executive, who successfully launched record labels, a radio station and became the ultimate mentor and behind-the-scenes go-to man in music, film, TV and politics.
"Every year at Christmas I watch It's a Wonderful Life and when I found out that the angel's name was Clarence, I thought, 'That's what my dad does,'" Nicole told ET's Nischelle Turner. "My father must be an angel because he helps people's dreams come true."
Clarence helped give rise to Black American culture as one of the most influential businessmen in entertainment. The Black Godfather, directed by Reginald Hudlin, features interviews with Snoop Dogg, Jamie Foxx, Ludacris and former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, among others. His story, among others, is featured in Netflix's collection of Black films, series and documentaries to help people educate themselves on racial equality.
Nicole, on her end, is a producer of the documentary, wife of Netflix CCO Ted Sarandos, and formerly served as President Barack Obama’s ambassador to the Bahamas.
"The common theme through every story [about my father] was, as great as all of us became, there were so many trials and tribulations attributed to injustice and racism, blatant racism, systemic racism, and they still found a way to work with each other and protect each other and continue to move our people forward," Nicole expressed. "To continue to move African Americans forward."
"The beauty of the film is that there were so many allies. There were so many people working together for the common good and for the good of all America," she continued. "Whether it was the presidents, you just mentioned Obama and Clinton, or it was Hank Aaron or Andrew Young…They were all doing the same thing, maybe not even knowing how much they were moving the needle."
For Nicole, it's so important to continue to share Black stories so that people can learn and create real change.
"There are so many different stories or movies and TV shows that really tell our experience," Nicole noted. "And I'm happy that we made the film exactly almost a year ago to the day, and it came out on Netflix and it's still alive, and it's still there and people are still responding to it. So for me and Reggie, it is a great honor that we're still talking about these themes today and all of those themes that we're talking about in the news today are in our film."
The Black Godfather is now streaming on Netflix.
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