The Five Gayest Straight Actors in Hollywood
By Dustin Rowles | Posted Under Seriously Random Lists | Comments (59)
For reasons that completely escape me, a dumbass journalist at Newsweek, Ramin Setoodeh, decided to write an immensely stupid article on how it’s weird seeing certain openly gay actors play straight characters on the stage and screen. In fact, he singled out two actors, Sean Hayes (“Will & Grace”) and Jonathan Groff (“Glee”) as lacking credibility when it comes to playing straight characters (he also wrote off Neil Patrick Harris and Portia de Rossi’s ability to do so by suggesting that their characters were “broad caricatures” and not “realistic”), and he further suggested that it can’t really be done.
I’d work up a huge rant on the matter, but it seems that Kristin Chenoweth (who co-stars with Sean Hayes in a stage production of “Promises, Promises” and has appeared with Groff in “Glee”) has already done the job for me (via Movieline).
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.
The funny thing, though, and something I’ve mentioned a few times in my “Glee” recaps, is that there are certain straight people who have trouble playing heterosexual characters convincingly. And so, to distract your attention away from Ramin Setoodeh’s idiocy, I thought I’d slap together my own idiotic list of the Five Gayest Straight Actors in Hollywood, a.k.a., the five heterosexual actors who least convincing play straight men in movies and television.
5. Ryan Seacrest
4. Dwayne Johnson
3. Tom Cruise
2. Matthew Morrison
1. Vin Diesel
Bonus: Gayest Straight Movie Blogger — Dustin Rowles
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Comments
Posted by: Mrs. Julien at May 10, 2010 12:05 PM
Isn't that really just a blanket indictment of Vin Diesel? Not that I mind.
I'm not sure he could play bald convincingly.