Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Emily Richardson | Celebrity | March 18, 2024
Eric McCormack is straight. Will Truman from Will & Grace, the role he’s best known for, is gay. When the sitcom was being cast, gay actor John Barrowman was also considered for the role, but producers ultimately decided he was “too straight.” Hmmm. Eric’s co-star Sean Hayes is gay, but he hadn’t publicly come out when he was cast as Jack. Remember, this was 1998; very few openly gay actors were actually cast in gay roles.
But the times they have a-changed (mostly… ish). Now, a straight actor can’t play a gay role without facing some backlash. Or, at the very least, a bunch of think pieces making the rounds. See: Kayleigh’s 2018 feature on Jack Whitehall’s controversial performance in Disney’s Jungle Cruise.
Recently, Tom Hollander, who played gay characters in White Lotus and Feud: Capote vs. The Swans, felt compelled to inform Vanity Fair that his “own sexuality is sufficiently liberal to have encompassed many different experiences, which are not anyone’s business.” But the actor, who’s been with his female partner since 2010, admits “there are issues of representation.”
This morning on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, definitely-straight Eric McCormack shared his thoughts on the topic. Unsurprisingly, the 60-year-old said he believes the “best person for the role” should be cast in projects, regardless of their sexuality, via Entertainment Weekly:
“That’s a tough one for me, because I didn’t become an actor so that I could play an actor,” McCormack said when asked about his thoughts on the subject. “There’s no part I’ve ever played where I wasn’t playing something I’m not. It’s part of the gig. And I’ve always said, if gay actors weren’t allowed to play straight actors, Broadway would be over.”“So this is what we do,” the actor continued. “I’d like to think that I represent it well. I came from the theater, and one of my best friends was a gay man. So I think I took their spirit and their message in what was otherwise just a sitcom and, represented it, I hope.”
Okaaaay. When asked if he thought he’d be cast again if Will & Grace were made today, Eric replied:
“Well, I guess the answer would be, they’d have to say in the casting room: ‘And you’re gay, right?,’ which I don’t think they can say,” he responded. “I would like to think in general that the best person for the role, the one that comes in and knocks it out of the park, is the one that gets the part.”
So it sounds like Eric would definitely audition again, and just hope nobody in casting discovered his shameful secret: he’s straight! Gasp!
Listen, I don’t know if Eric got to vet the questions he was asked on Good Morning Britain, but, in the future, straight actors who got famous playing gay should probably just leave the discussion to actors who are actually queer.
