Kinda VERY Homophobic Newsweek Editorial on Gay Actors

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 7:51pm

This was a piece that was published in the most recent print edition of NEWSWEEK by Ramin Setoodeh.. It purports to examine the paradox in which straight actors are accepted as gay but gay actors can't realistically play straight. However, it has these sorta homophobic undertones that I'm not cool with, and I don't know if I'll be alone here. For one thing, the author requires us to accept the premise that gay actors aren't ever believable as straight, writing off Neil Patrick Harris and Portia de Rossi:

De Rossi and Harris do that on TV, but they also inhabit broad caricatures, not realistic characters likes the ones in Up in the Air or even The Proposal.

Wait, first of all, go back, The Proposal? Really?

Setoodeh seems to forget de Rossi's subtle work on Arrested Development, Harris' increasing development of his character on How I Met Your Mother as more than a hilarious womanizer. Setoodeh also ignores a critical example: T.R. Knight, who has spent many years playing straight on Grey's Anatomy. Setoodeh then moves onto Sean Hayes in Promises, Promises and Jonathan Groff on Glee:

-But frankly, it's weird seeing Hayes play straight. He comes off as wooden and insincere, like he's trying to hide something, which of course he is. Even the play's most hilarious scene, when Chuck tries to pick up a drunk woman at a bar, devolves into unintentional camp. Is it funny because of all the '60s-era one-liners, or because the woman is so drunk (and clueless) that she agrees to go home with a guy we all know is gay?
-Which is why it's a little hard to know what to make of the latest fabulous player to join Glee: Jonathan Groff, the openly gay Broadway star. In Spring Awakening, he showed us that he was a knockout singer and a heartthrob. But on TV, as the shifty glee captain from another school who steals Rachel's heart, there's something about his performance that feels off. In half his scenes, he scowls—is that a substitute for being straight? When he smiles or giggles, he seems more like your average theater queen, a better romantic match for Kurt than Rachel. It doesn't help that he tried to bed his girlfriend while singing (and writhing to) Madonna's Like a Virgin. He is so distracting, I'm starting to wonder if Groff's character on the show is supposed to be secretly gay.
-For all the beefy bravado that Rock Hudson projects on-screen, Pillow Talk dissolves into a farce when you know the likes of his true bedmates. (Just rewatch the scene where he's wading around in a bubble bath by himself.)

It seems like the author needs to put aside his own prejudices before he accuses some of the finest gay role models in the entertainment industry today of being unable to keep their sexuality from influencing their performance.


Yikes.

Updated On: 5/5/10 at 07:51 PM

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 7:56pm

Sounds more like the author's hangups than the actor's performance...

[kidbroadway2]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 7:57pm

I agree about Hayes cause I couldn't get his Will and Grace character out of my head during Promises. But someone like NPH does a fantastic job of portraying a straight dude, and its pretty weird for this dude to say all this stuff. While I do get his point, he's said it really awkwardly and you could assume some homophobia on his part.

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 8:01pm

But in Sean Hayes' case, I'm guessing that what you couldn't get out of your head was Jack's gayness, not Hayes'. That's a case of a character an actor played on a popular TV show for years influencing his career, and has no place in this debate.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 8:03pm

Can we make a list of straight actors who were completely unconvincing playing gay? God, that article is terrible, especially the Rock Hudson quip.

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 8:03pm

-For all the beefy bravado that Rock Hudson projects on-screen, Pillow Talk dissolves into a farce when you know the likes of his true bedmates.

So, does he have the same problem watching straight actors play gay? Does he not "buy" the performance then?

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 8:09pm

AfterElton, who's been following this guy for a while, reports that he's an out gay man. Can Newsweek hire a different one?

[PiraguaGuy2]

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

Setoodeh also penned the infamous Newsweek Laurence King article, which drew ire for what was perceived as "blaming the victim", implying that maybe all that unpleasantness and murder could have been avoided if King had been just a teensy bit less in-your-face about the "gay" thing.
Seriously?

[jrb_actor]

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

I agree with wonderwaiter--this says way more about the writer's issues than the issue he's writing about. It's frankly laughable. Plenty of gay actors have convincingly played straight characters. This seems to be about his inability to stop obsessing with how he thinks gay men act when watching openly gay actors perform. Any perceived flaw is proof of his argument? Ha.

[Calvin]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 8:23pm

Those are really the only lesbian actresses he can name?

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 8:26pm

Apparently, Rock Hudson made just one movie where he played straight, called "Pillow Talk." Funny, I thought he made a couple of other movies over the years, maybe even a drama or two.

I don't recall any farcical bubble bath scenes in "Giant."

This article is really transparent. This guy needs a shrink.

Posted: 5/5/10 at 8:28pm

So many good points were made by previous posters, that I will just add this. I have pretty good gaydar, but I was somewhat surprised (and thrilled) when Groff came out. He could have very easily stayed in the closet and played straight and many would never have guessed. To me he came across in interviews as well as performances as a kind, sensitive, masculine guy who very definitely could be straight. I don't think he comes off as "gay" (whatever that is) on screen or on stage.
All of these actors will be remembered years from now as the trail-blazers who made sexuality a non-issue in acting roles. It may take a while, but it will happen. And by that time, hopefully this Newsweek "writer" will have moved on to more suitable career.

[Calvin]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 8:31pm

Yes, besty, and his only movie, Pillow Talk was such a serious, emotionally gritty work before that queer farced it all up. Thank goodness for the presence of real manly men like Tony Randall that kept it from turning into the Quentin Crisp Story!

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 8:37pm

I remember quite well when Rock Hudson finally came out, and half the public didn't believe him. Refused to believe him.

They couldn't understand how such a manly man could be gay.

This jerk found a campy comedy or two where Rock played fey for laughs (as did so many other actors in comic farces (from Jack Lemmon to James Garner, etc.), and said, "See? See?! Told ya!"

Now go look at the other movies Rock made, bub, and shut the hell up.

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 8:38pm

For some laffs, here's his hilarious interview with Clay Aiken, undoctored, exactly as it was published:

How did you get into a fight with that lady on a plane?
I'm not going to talk about it.

I was just curious because you've never talked about it.
I did talk about it.

What about the Kelly Ripa thing?
I'm not going to discuss it.

Did you think it was homophobic?
I'm not going to discuss it.

What do you want to talk about?
I think we're done.

Can we talk about something fun?
No, we're done. I thought NEWSWEEK would be more reputable. I'm surprised.

But I think people are curious about it.
It was a year ago. This is NEWSWEEK. It's not the National Enquirer. I'd hate to have a job where I had to be rude to people.

We're just having a conversation.
Change the subject! I'd never take a job where I had to do something that I didn't want to do.

What about all those Ford commercials on "American Idol"?
That wasn't a job.

It was part of your job.
It wasn't a Ford commercial. It was a music video. It was a completely different thing.

I'll change the subject. What do you do for fun?
I watch the news. I read news magazines, but I'm reconsidering that now.

[adamgreer]

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

This guy's an idiot.

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 8:42pm

"No, we're done. I thought NEWSWEEK would be more reputable. I'm surprised."

OUCH - pwned by Clay Aiken. That's saying a lot.

[justafan2]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 8:47pm

I just read this article about 30 minutes ago and put it in the recycle bag after about one page.

[ActingIsLovee]

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

most of my friends who watch Glee (outside of the theatre community) don't even realize Groff's gay.

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 9:00pm

It's only AFTER they know an actor's gay that they can point out all the "gay" qualities and say, "Told ya!"

Never before.

I think Johnny Depp reads "gay" way more than Neil Patrick Harris ever has. So did Tony Randall.

There is a point made, after reading this piece, is that AFTER an out actor is known the public, cretins like this writer will look for every sideways glance they can find to call him "out."

That's his problem, however, not the actor's.

[TheatreFan4]

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

-Which is why it's a little hard to know what to make of the latest fabulous player to join Glee: Jonathan Groff, the openly gay Broadway star.

I've discovered that we & a handful of other people ever realize that Groff IS gay

So, does he have the same problem watching straight actors play gay? Does he not "buy" the performance then?

No, because more times that not the gay person they're playing is the stereotype.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 9:19pm

Adding my two cents worth, both Cheyenne Jackson and Nathan Lane -- two publicly very out actors -- have played straight roles and played them well (think Nathan in Guys and Dolls, November, Butley, The Producers and Cheyenne in All Shook Up, Xanadu, Finian's Rainbow). This guy is a schmuck.

[Calvin]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 9:27pm

Well, like many columnists, this guy develops a conclusion and then looks for evidence to support it -- which is the exact opposite way you should develop a column.

[[tos]fan999]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 9:29pm

^^^Let's not forget Cheyenne and Tina Fey hooking up on 30 ROCK. =)

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 10:33pm

Don't worry, Newsweek's up for sale and will be disappearing from newsstands faster than you can say "Hey, girlfriend."