Kinda VERY Homophobic Newsweek Editorial on Gay Actors- Page 3

[jsg03jd]

Posted: 5/7/10 at 8:45pm

This isn't the first time this ****ing Setoodeh creature struck.

He attacked TV characters on NEWSWEEK too.
KINGS OF QUEENS: Gays on TV once helped promote tolerance. Now they may be hurting it.

[AC126748]

Posted: 5/7/10 at 9:01pm

Kristin Chenoweth has responded with a letter to Newsweek:

As a longtime fan of Newsweek and as the actress currently starring opposite the incredibly talented (and sexy!) Sean Hayes in the Broadway revival of Promises, Promises, I was shocked on many levels to see Newsweek publishing Ramin Setoodeh’s horrendously homophobic “Straight Jacket,” which argues that gay actors are simply unfit to play straight. From where I stand, on stage, with Hayes, every night — I’ve observed nothing “wooden” or “weird” in his performance, nor have I noticed the seemingly unwieldy presence of a “pink elephant” in the Broadway Theater. (The Drama League, Outer Critics Circle and Tony members must have also missed that large animal when nominating Hayes’ performance for its highest honors this year.)

I’d normally keep silent on such matters and write such small-minded viewpoints off as perhaps a blip in common sense. But the offense I take to this article, and your decision to publish it, is not really even related to my profession or my work with Hayes or Jonathan Groff (also singled out in the article as too “queeny” to play “straight.”)

This article offends me because I am a human being, a woman and a Christian. For example, there was a time when Jewish actors had to change their names because anti-Semites thought no Jew could convincingly play Gentile. Setoodeh even goes so far as to justify his knee-jerk homophobic reaction to gay actors by accepting and endorsing that “as viewers, we are molded by a society obsessed with dissecting sexuality, starting with the locker room torture in junior high school.” Really? We want to maintain and proliferate the same kind of bullying that makes children cry and in some recent cases have even taken their own lives? That’s so sad, Newsweek! The examples he provides (what scientists call “selection bias”) to prove his “gays can’t play straight” hypothesis are sloppy in my opinion. Come on now!

Openly gay Groff is too “queeny” to play Lea Michele’s boyfriend in Glee, but is a “heartthrob” when he does it in Spring Awakening? Cynthia Nixon only “got away with it” ’cause she peaked before coming out? I don’t know if you’ve missed the giant Sex and the City movie posters, but it seems most of America is “buying it.” I could go on, but I assume these will be taken care of in your “Corrections” this week.

Similarly, thousands of people have traveled from all over the world to enjoy Hayes’ performance and don’t seem to have one single issue with his sexuality! They have no problem buying him as a love-torn heterosexual man. Audiences aren’t giving a darn about who a person is sleeping with or his personal life. Give me a break! We’re actors first, whether we’re playing prostitutes, baseball players, or the Lion King. Audiences come to theater to go on a journey. It’s a character and it’s called acting, and I’d put Hayes and his brilliance up there with some of the greatest actors period.

Lastly, as someone who’s been proudly advocating for equal rights and supporting GLBT causes for as long as I can remember, I know how much it means to young people struggling with their sexuality to see out & proud actors like Sean Hayes, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris and Cynthia Nixon succeeding in their work without having to keep their sexuality a secret. No one needs to see a bigoted, factually inaccurate article that tells people who deviate from heterosexual norms that they can’t be open about who they are and still achieve their dreams. I am told on good authority that Mr. Setoodeh is a gay man himself and I would hope, as the author of this article, he would at least understand that. I encourage Newsweek to embrace stories which promote acceptance, love, unity and singing and dancing for all!

—Kristin Chenoweth

Brava, Kristin!
http://www.broadway.com/shows/promises-promises/buzz/promises-promises-star-kristin-chenoweth-speaks-out-horrendously-homophobic-newsweek-article-defends-sean-hayes/

[Kad]

Posted: 5/7/10 at 9:09pm

Good for her. This self-loathing idiot shouldn't be allowed to get away with his remarks, time and time again.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 5/7/10 at 9:28pm

Bravo, Kristin!

[Brick]

Posted: 5/7/10 at 9:58pm

Wonderful, and eloquent response. I can hardly believe NEWSWEEK published such a ridiculous article. And Setoodeh should be embarrassed.

Maybe one can debate whether or not a gay writer can be homophobic, but he certainly can be stupid.

[wendilin622]

Posted: 5/7/10 at 10:01pm

I don't even know where to start.... While I won't repeat what others have said, I believe that what this article, and the attitude behind it, ultimately does is hinder actors from being who they are. Why can Colin Ferrell (or whatever Hollywood actor it is this week) flaunt his sex life without having it "ruin" his performances as an actor? I applaud Jon Groff, who is really just making his move from NY to Hollywood and has a lot more to risk for being who he is and not making a spectacle of it. Other Hollywood actors make far more of a spectacle out of their sex lives, be it straight or gay, and no one questions their performance.Why is it just knowing someone is gay ruins their performance?

Of course, it is Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington's perogative to not divulge their personal life. But doesn't Hollywood consequently fault those who decide NOT to talk about their personal life? And in the days of Perez Hilton and the National Enquirer it is impossible to NOT learn about an actor's personal life. Why should we start faulting actors who are giving us, as a society, exactly what we want. An actor DOESN'T come out of the closet and there is speculation up the wazoo about them. After reading a stupid article like this, why would I want to come out of the closet if I were a gay actor?

Ugh, and I won't even touch upon the language that this man used.

[Stage Door Sally]

Posted: 5/7/10 at 10:07pm

Well said, Kristin!

[AC126748]

Posted: 5/7/10 at 10:08pm

^ Exactly. When you're a gay actor, you're put in a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't situation. If you're open about your private life, they try to pidgeon-hole you; if you don't talk about your sexuality, you're pegged as a self-hating closet case.

[kristinchenofan570]

Posted: 5/7/10 at 10:15pm

Yay for Kristin! Everything she said was so true!

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 5/7/10 at 10:28pm

Brava, Kristin! Just one more reason to adore her. :)

[slmlbl]

Posted: 5/7/10 at 10:28pm

Thank you Cheno, you prove once more why i adore you!

[sundayclothes2]

Posted: 5/8/10 at 3:06am

Let me preface my remarks by saying that I agree with all of the comments in this thread and am disgusted by this article. However, I was recently talking to a good friend who works in the film industry. He told me he has several gay friends that have chosen to stay in the closet which is a decision that he supports. Why? Because even though we would like to think we are a very progressive country and are ready for gay actors to play straight roles the truth is there is a large part of this country who isn't. He was telling me stories from casting sessions and where the director/casting director rejected certain actors because they didn't have enough "mainstream" appeal in the leading man role due to their sexuality. I mean, look at Kevin Spacey -- that is a man who has chosen to keep quiet about being gay to the public although it is pretty much known in the industry. It isn't that these people have problems casting gay people it is that they are scared that of if the audience will "buy" them in the role. I just thought that was interesting...

[raker]

Posted: 5/8/10 at 10:16am

This is a typical story by a hack writer who starts with a conclusion and writes a lot of nonsense to support it. He says that gay actors aren't effective at playing straight romantic characters, but the gay actors he names as examples: Tab Hunter, Van Johnson, Anthony Perkins, Rock Hudson, all did it very effectively. There are legions of gay Broadway actors and soap actors and movie and TV actors who’ve done it very effectively. I love that he compares Sean Hayes’s style to Jerry Orbach's "macho swagger," as though macho swagger can’t read GAY just as much as effeminate mannerisms.

I think Sean Hayes doesn’t come off so way gay that he's not credible as a straight romantic lead. Even his character on Will and Grace was really more childlike than effeminate. And I thought it was agreed that the elephant in the room, problemwise for Promises, Promises, was that the leads are too old for the parts and that the whole thing is trying too hard for a Mad Men vibe.

And for those too young to remember, the world at large did not know that Rock Hudson was gay. He never came out; he was "outed" as he lay dying of AIDS in 1985. Pillow Talk was 26 years old when Hudson died, and in all those years it is unlikely that straight people watching the movie thought it was farcical because Hudson was too gay to play Doris Day’s lover. Nonsense.

[THDavis]

Posted: 5/8/10 at 12:25pm

Damn, was Chenoweth an English major or something? That letter is awesome. Good for her.

[kchenofan]

Posted: 5/8/10 at 2:39pm

Brava Chenoweth!

[Gobstopper]

Posted: 5/8/10 at 2:58pm

Nicely stated, Kristin! It's great that she still speaks up about these issues even though she's becoming more of a "name" these days!

[sowren1020]

Posted: 5/8/10 at 6:56pm

It's great that Kristen believes that Sean Hayes is straight for sake of PROMISES, PROMISES storyline. I didn't believe it for one minute. I don't care about a person's sexual preference. I care that I spent $120 to watch an unbelievable performance.
Updated On: 5/8/10 at 06:56 PM

[Plum]

Posted: 5/8/10 at 7:18pm

Some people want to believe they have perfect gaydar. They want to believe that they can spot who's gay and who's not even if the observed party is acting out a role. Why? Who knows. Maybe it makes them feel more secure in their sexuality or something. Maybe they just really like putting people in boxes.

In any event, it's the kind of moronic belief that will never die because it isn't evidence-based. Some people will keep believing and believing that someone who's out is straight, or that someone who claims to be straight is gay, or that someone who claims to be bi actually only swings one way or the other. I personally find it much easier to just take people at their words when they talk about their own sexualities, but I'm just mentally lazy like that.

[MEMPHIS10]

Posted: 5/8/10 at 11:04pm

I know where the Corporate Office is on lower Hudson & Houston.
Anyone up for a picket?

[adamgreer]

Posted: 5/8/10 at 11:17pm

It's great that Kristen believes that Sean Hayes is straight for sake of PROMISES, PROMISES storyline. I didn't believe it for one minute. I don't care about a person's sexual preference. I care that I spent $120 to watch an unbelievable performance.

I had no trouble buying Hayes as straight. I did, however, have a problem with the premise that Brooks Ashmanskas was a straight, womanizing, corporate type.

[sowren1020]

Posted: 5/9/10 at 1:58am

I paid $120 to go see PROMISES, PROMISES not Brooks Ashmanskas. I paid top line money to see a musical about a leading man and a woman, ande I don't care about where they come from or what they do off stage. Sean Hayes is absolutely not convincing as a leading man interested in women as adorable and top in form with his comic timing on bits.

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 5/9/10 at 6:01am

For the record when I saw promises, promises, coming over from the UK I was unaware of 'Sean Hayes' and never watched 'Will and Grace'.

As Kristin says "They have no problem buying him as a love-torn heterosexual man", which I bought into when I saw the show, I had no idea 'Sean Hayes' was gay until I read this thread.

This in turn demonstrates how poor and misguided the Newsweek article is.

[bwayfascination]

Posted: 5/9/10 at 2:57pm

Magazines like Newsweek see their subscriptions drop like a bomb week after week because they aren't writing anything worth reading anymore. In response to the situation, they publish stupid articles written by stupid people in an effort to cause controversy to bump sales. And they thereby prove that the market was correct to stop buying the magazine in the first place.

Happy demise, Newsweek.

[ErinDillyFan]

Posted: 5/10/10 at 10:56am

I have not seen the show...
But, I don't have a problem with Sean Hayes in that role. Jack Lemmon certainly wasn't the most masculine of actors.

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 5/10/10 at 11:20am

"When he smiles or giggles, he seems more like your average theater queen"

Since when did smiling become gay? A smile is a smile, right?