Mr. Roger’s longtime gay co-star calls him “the love of my spiritual life”

Francois Clemmons. Via Wikimedia Commons

Francois Clemmons, best known as Officer Clemmons on Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, has opened up about his relationship with his longtime co-star, detailing the love between the two.

Clemmons will publish a memoir entitled Officer Clemmons on May 5, detailing the working relationship between the two. In a new interview with People, Clemmons offered a preview of the book’s contents.

“I didn’t know what I was so hungry for, until I heard Fred Rogers say, ‘I love you,’” Clemmons says. “When I was growing up, men were rough and macho — you had to be a ‘man.’ I didn’t fit any of that.”

Clemmons, who is gay, met Rodgers at age 23 while studying at Carnegie Mellon University. Fred Rogers, then 43, invited him to join Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. Officer Clemmons would appear on the show for the next two decades while also performing as an opera singer in various productions around the country. Clemmons’ role made him one of the first African-Americans with a recurring role on a children’s TV series.

In one landmark skit, he and Rogers…

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