“American Crime” Tackles Sexual Orientation, Male-On-Male Sexual Assault, In Season 2

"As difficult as it is for society to deal with [sexual assault] among women, for men, every single issue is magnified," said creator John Ridley.
From: NewNowNext

 Created by 12 Years A Slave screenwriter John Ridley, ABC’s American Crime followed a California community as they dealt with the investigation into a racially charged murder and the subsequent trial.

Critics praised the series, which wound up snagging 10 Emmy nominations and a win for Regina King for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or a Movie.

The show has been conceived as an anthology (a la American Horror Story) and for Season Two, King returns for a new role, along side Season One veterans Felicity Huffman, Timothy Hutton and Lili Taylor.

Details on the main story line are still forthcoming, but While the first season centered around a racially-charged crime, Variety reports it will touch on sexual orientation.

Explicit photos of a high school athlete are posted on social media, leading him to accuse several players on the basketball team of sexually assaulting him.

Earlier, Ridley told Variety, the season started out as a story about a teen girl who was sexually assaulted. That changed when the American Crime writers examined the issue further:

We really thought, if we were going to try to tell a story that is as provocative as it can be, are there other things that we can say? …We started looking into cases where there was peer-to-peer sexual assault among men. As difficult as it is for society to deal with it among women, for men, every single issue is magnified.

There’s certainly plenty of real-life source material for Ridley to draw on—teams in New Jersey, Colorado and New Mexico have faced sexual assault charges in the past few years.

American Crime Season Two debuts January 6.