Gay Newsweek columnist harshly criticized for saying gay actors are unconvicing at straight roles [video]
”Most actors would tell you that the biographical details of their lives are beside the point. Except when they’re not. As viewers, we are molded by a society obsessed with dissecting sexuality, starting with the locker-room torture in junior high school.”
Ramin Setoodeh, a writer for Newsweek, who has offended many by stating his strong opinion that gay actors are not able to develop convincing chemistry when they try to play straight. His column became a widely lambasted point of contention for many gay bloggers recently — partly because of it’s insensitive conclusions appearing on such a prominent news source as “Newsweek” magazine, but also likely because it has been a slow week for gay news. (Newsweek)
”Frankly, I wish Setoodeh would stop writing about gay issues, or at least Newsweek would stop publishing them; his opinions are certainly not representative of any gay person I’ve ever met. On the contrary, Setoodeh’s predictable contrarianism seems to reflect a gay constituency of one — or, worse, the tired gay-obsessions of the far right. ”
Michael Jensen of AfterElton in an early criticism of Ramin Setoodeh‘s rather insenstivie opinion piece that ran in Newsweek regarding gay actors. (AfterElton)
”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.”
Opening lines from a missive by actress Kristin Chenoweth, who currently appears with Sean Hayes in ”Promises, Promises.” Hayes recently came out gay despite playing gay Jack on ”Will and Grace” for many years. Chenoweth played ”Glinda” in ”Wicked,” and appeared in ”The West Wing,” but likely had her widest audience last year as the boozy ”April” on the hit series ”Glee.”
”Over the weekend, I became the subject of a lot of vicious attacks…. People commented about my haircut, and that was only the beginning. I was compared to Ann Coulter and called an Uncle Tom…. But what all this scrutiny seemed to miss was my essay’s point: if an actor of the stature of George Clooney came out of the closet today, would we still accept him as a heterosexual leading man? I meant to open a debate–why is that? And what does it say about our notions about sexuality? For all the talk about progress in the gay community in Hollywood, has enough really changed? The answer seems obvious to me: no, it has no’t”‘
Ramin Setoodeh defending his piece that ran in Newsweek that said gay actors — and in particular, Sean Hayes in ”Promises, Promises” — are not successfully pulling off an illusion of heterosexuality when taking on non-gay roles. (Newsweek)
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