Reality Check
April 2003 Soap Opera Weekly

While an Eve/Julian redux would likely raise a few bigoted eyebrows in Harmony, how would an interracial romance play in the real world in 2003?

“I was thinking about this the other day, seriously,” admits Ben Masters (Julian). “Let’s say that Tracey (Ross, Eve) threw everything off, and I threw everything off, and in real life we got together? What if we wanted to drive through Alabama one night? Would that be a problem? Because in this world we live in, there’s still this weird thing about that. I’m a child of the ‘60s, whether it be civil rights or the Vietnam War or all of that social activism stuff. That’s all ingrained in me. So I’m curious… If Tracey and I went to have a cup of coffee in Mobile, Ala., would they throw rocks at us?”

“I don’t think so,” offers Ross. “It’s not part of my daily thought processes at all. I’m probably the worst when they do those interviews for Black History Month, and they try to get stuff out of me. I’m like, ‘No, it’s never happened to me!’ I don’t have bitter things happening to me that I can chalk up to the color of my skin.” – RS
Additional reporting by JDL