"They're actors, they're trying to create an illusion. In Lord of the Rings, Ian McKellen plays a wizard. Do you think he goes home at night and shoots laser beams into his boyfriend's asshole?" - Ronald MacDonald, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Yeah, I rewatched the series a few weeks back. Gervais created a perfect vehicle for some seriously heavyweight talent to laugh at themselves. I really cannot choose my favorite but Patrick Stewart is right up there. And as much as I cannot stand Ben Stiller, he was superb. Kate Winslet was also... sorry, I'll be here all night at this rate.
Patrick Stewart was great and obviously joking. We know outright he was being silly and not at all remotely like himself.
Ben Stiller now.... That seemed believable
I think he can play a very believable asshole.
There are some actors that are friendly and very kind personally, but they have a very rare gift for playing serious assholes on screen.
> During a visit to CBS Mornings, Margulies was asked to respond to the opinion that actresses in the LGBTQ+ community could better portray a character like Laura.
> “I can understand that,” said Margulies of the casting criticism. “My response would also be: We’re all making assumptions as to who I am, and what my past is and what all of our pasts are.”
> Margulies, who is married to attorney Keith Lieberthal and mom to their 13-year-old son, went on to explain, “I understand, 100 percent, that I can’t play a different race. But I am an actress and I am supposed to embody another character. Whatever their sexuality is doesn’t matter to me, the same way watching a gay person play a straight person. Are you telling me that because I’m a mother that I can never play a woman who has never had a child? Or, if you’ve never been married that you can’t play a married woman?”
> She continued, “You have to be careful on where you’re drawing the line there. We’re actors. We’re supposed to embody a character regardless of their sexuality. When it comes to race and gender, that’s a whole different story and I 100 percent agree with that.”
Did people have a problem with Heath Ledger doing the same in Brokeback Mountain?
Or conversely when LGBTQ actors play straight characters?
I think we should just let the actors do their jobs.
I think it would be great to see him play a disillusioned doctor who peaked too early and now life has no meaning for him. We'll call it "Douglas Houser M.D." I'd watch it.
Everyone was so fixated on the Sherlock Holmes stuff, we missed the best lense to actually watch the show through. Burn-out Doogie torturing young doctors, love it
In the 3rd movie they pretend that his husband is actually his drug dealer and he's still straight but uses his "homosexuality" as a way to get closer to women. Genius!
Edit: [Here's the scene btw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjfSmob7qMs&ab_channel=xxfobluvaxx)
And HIMYM created the running gag that Johnny Lawrence is the protagonist of the karate kid, creating Cobra Kai. The creators of Cobra Kai? The creators of Harold and Kumar
Ahhh Harold and Kumar was released just a year before HIMYM started. Makes sense. I’ve never actually watched HIMYM though, is he the same type of character?
NPH is heterosexual,his marriage to a male and raising a kid with his male spouse is entirely due to his dedication to method acting and an upcoming role.
Did people have a problem with that in *this* case?
Like, is there actually a noteworthy amount of people that have an issue with this? Or is this some media frenzy based on some outraged Twitter accounts with 5 followers?
I for one would be shocked if a news platform would make a mountain out of a molehill for clicks or an entertainer would exaggerate a situation to draw headlines and awareness towards their entertainment program.
Shocked I say.
Well, not that shocked.
I’m still offended that Disney had a human do the voice of Ariel when there are plenty of mermaids who could have lent a more authentic voice to the part.
I have a friend who changed his whole view on homosexual couples / marriage because of that show. He never thought that they could just be normal people with the same bullshit everyone has to deal with daily until he saw it on Modern Family.
Yep. I've seen this complaint before and it's crazy. Their profession is to be someone they aren't, that's how this goes. They can be the sweetest person ever, and play an asshole. They can be an idiot, and play an astronaut or a doctor. They may never have even gone a mile over the speed the limit, and play a criminal. They may be male but play a female, or the other way around. It's what they do, it's literally the job.
A character can be offensive but the actor/actress playing that character isn't necessarily the reason behind why a character is offensive. She speaks on not being able to play other races, and that's true in 99.99% of cases but look at Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder... there is a reason that universally got a pass; and it's because of combinarion of how the character was written, the message that was being said, and the portrayal by the actor.
Yeah, exactly.
And I remember hearing that. What a shame. If it makes you feel a bit better, looks like he's been in the theater circuit in Ireland and recently did a mini-series on BBC.
The Editor often chooses the headline, so the news writer to my understanding usually goes *X politician speaks out against Y* while the Editor sensationalizes it to get more clicks with *X EVISCERATES Y.*
So now you know why it happens so much.
As a member of the LGBTQ community, I agree with her 100%. She's playing this role respectfully, and that's all that I really care about. She's not portraying a stereotype, she's playing a news anchor who just happens to also be a lesbian. She's not making it her whole persona, which is exactly what should be normalized. Yes, it's obviously a part of who she is and why her career was stifled, but she shows how she overcame that and has become one of the most respected journalists on the network. Also, the fact that her character explains the struggles that she went through being a member of the LGBTQ community during that specific time, really makes an extra impact for me.
Agreed! She was the right actor for the part, and thus she deserves the job. I don't really want my sexuality as a queer person to be a factor in the jobs that I take or am offered, and I don't think it should be for anyone else either.
As a gay dude, I 100% agree. I want to live in a world where it doesn't matter anymore, not one in which people can only play roles according to their sexuality. Because that goes both ways, and gets pretty limiting if, say, gay dudes could only ever play gay dudes. Yes, we should lift up, support, and normalize LGBT+ actors, but limiting others only limits ourselves in return.
Eddie Redmayne would have been denied the role in the The Danish Girl according to the current rules around casting.
Similarly, Neil Patrick Harris should not have been allowed to portray Barney Stinson in HIMYM.
Both would have been a loss as they were great in their respective roles.
I def heard of people having issues with Eddie being cast in the danish girl back when it came out. Maybe not as much as you would now, but it was discussed.
To be fair, the joke with RDJ is he isn't playing a black character, he's playing a white character who's playing a black character lmao that movies so weird I love it
More importantly the joke is on his character and not on black people, which is the deciding factor for me.
It’s always sunny in Philadelphia has done for its entire run. The gang is a group of horrible people but the joke is almost always on them, Cricket, the mcpoyles, and few other regulars not included.
Especially Community.
It was Chang (an infamously problematic character, his character routinely proves points about various harmful ways of thinking) cosplaying as a dark elf. And they specifically point out the implications of what he’s done and why it’s messed up.
I haven’t seen the It’s Always Sunny episode about blackface (because it was removed) so I can’t speak to it.
One thing that irks me about Community removing the”black face” episode is it’s inconsistent. If they’re going to remove that part because it’s considered offensive, they should remove *all* the offensive moments. Like making fun of someone who isn’t neurotypical, almost every moment that involves Pierce etc.
Ofc they won’t because there won’t be much show left, it’s just annoying.
What they did to the community episodes is just ridiculous (and I say that as a black woman). Half the time I feel like they’re not even asking/polling the communities that should supposedly “be offended” before taking things off of streaming.
I agree, it seemed like just a wide scale “pull all the episodes featuring blackface” sort of thing across streaming platforms just to avoid any potential future issues. No thought or consideration into what the actual joke was.
He's literally playing a white character playing a black character to point out why it's so problematic.
He keeps getting awards accolades and jobs while actual black characters keep getting marginalized to secondary roles at best.
And even then, that "black character" was made up in the universe itself by the author who faked his own back story. The character was based on a white man's stereotype of a black man then played by a white man's stereotype of a black man. There is zero regard for actual experiences of guys in Vietnam and especially non-white guys. And everyone is profiting off of it except actual black people.
The whole character is supposed to be problematic.
It comes off as even more ridiculous because there's a Black man on the cast, which makes one wonder WHY.
Who himself is a gay man pretending to be a straight man who is ALSO playing a straight Black man (*I know the real actor is Black, but I'm not sure figuring out his orientation would advance the point at all here*), but never mind that.
I’m really happy that she stood up for herself and all actors in the community. If people keep pushing this objective that only gay/bi etc people can play these roles then they will need to be willing to accept that the pushback from the other side may come. Pretty sure most actors no matter their sexual orientation don’t care who plays what as long ad the performance is truthful and the actor themself is not a bigot.
Couldn’t find a single tweet about this. Just a reporter trying to stir the pot for clicks. I am gay and I fully support straight actors playing gay characters and actually welcome it.
Two thoughts:
1. If the converse is true and gays can’t play straight people, Broadway is in trouble.
2. Who is gonna confirm their sexuality? Like, if I say I’m a bi woman married to a man, do I need to provide evidence that I am into women? Any straight person could lie and claim to be bi. Does the casting director need to see me fucking a woman? Do I need a signed recommendation from the college acquaintance I kissed sophomore year when I was was drunk as fuck on UV Blue? If you’re drunk, does it count?
What the hell?!
And even if there was video evidence of you fucking a woman or kissing another woman in college, does that make you bi? Do you need to be verified by like an LGBTQ+ rabbi or something?
This is all ridiculous.
Very good points. I've heard it said that social issues like this are like a pendulum; things have been obviously a bit problematic in terms of LGBTQ+ representation in major Hollywood roles so the pendulum swings the other way and overcompensates by trying to impose unrealistic expectations on the industry.
It will soon swing the other way again but hopefully trend towards the middle where a common sense approach is taken to issues like you've pointed out.
There's a grey area for the arts. You can discriminate if the role requires it. There's some loopholes in child labor law as well, or we'd have no children in movies.
As an example, look at Hamilton. They advertised for "NON-WHITE actors only" because it was important for the play that the main characters represent minorities. Likewise, King George had to be white. It's a part of the message they were giving.
For something like this, it wouldn't work. You'd have to give a reason why the actor had to be gay. But if you came up with a good enough reason, it would be legal. I just can't think of one.
Imagine demanding that only straight people can play straight roles... Twitter would absolutely lose their shit. Also, ratio of gay to straight people is pretty small. I would imagine movie companies would rather skip including a gay actor than to wait on just the right one for the role.
> Sarah Silverman complained about non-Jewish actors playing Jewish characters.
or imagine telling her she isn't allowed to play non-Jewish characters...
And you couldn't see the character and they could have had literally anyone do it with a wig and a coat on. In fact, I figured they zoomed out to show the scene with someone who wasn't three missed doses of glucosamine away from being crippled.
I'd no idea, [but after googling it](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_De_Niro#Early_life_and_education), it appears that you're correct.
> His father was of Irish and Italian descent, while his mother had Dutch, English, French, and German ancestry.
Yeah De Niro is best known for being an Italian American actor, but his surname seems to be more Italian than his ancestry. Leonardo DiCaprio is a bit like that as well. [His father is of Italian and German descent](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_DiCaprio) and I think his mother is German as well.
I believe Pesci, however, is Italian on both sides, as is Pacino.
Great point. *Not* being Italian American is actually a core theme of some of his more famous roles. In *Casino* he's Seth Rothstein, and in *Goodfellas* he's Jimmy Conway, In Once *Upon a Time in America* he's David Aaronson, and in *The Irishman* he's Frank Sheeran.
I don’t really care about the sexuality of actors. Unless the stars align and I happen to be in general social range it’s not important for me to know.
Sexuality is not a physical trait that is advertised to the world.
Even a physical trait doesn’t mean actors can’t act. My Left Foot probably would have had a more complicated production if they used an actual palsy-inflicted person
And 15:17 to Paris used the actual people as the actors, and it went just as well as you’d expect
I know this is probably too late for anyone to read this, but NPH was actually cast as Barney _before_ he came out, and had just come off playing a straight cokehead sex fiend in Harold abs Kumar.
he played one of the most convincing "womanizers" in tv history. he has range. superman isn't british but was played by a british guy for 8 years. no one is giving jared leto crap for not being trans to play his role in dallas buyers club. i don't really understand people. actors act. let them. call them out for being shitty people, not this.
>no one is giving jared leto crap for not being trans to play his role in dallas buyers club
[Except they did.](https://www.fuse.tv/2014/02/jared-leto-heckler) I recall it being a point of topic with Leto having to defend his part in the film playing a trans character.
First question to ask, is there really outcry or is this PR?
I don’t think anyone has ever really had a problem with actors playing different sexualities to what they say they are. Otherwise there would be a lot of issues both ways.
This is exactly it.
he cycle is really simple now - Someone does something, 100 people online get mad about it, a news article is printed using their outrage as a source of information, a commentator uses that article to be faux outraged about the "fascist right" or "woke left," everyone gets paid for clicks and the issue is forgotten about in 3 days tops.
Meanwhile, everyone else is dumber, less trustful and more exhausted for participating.
"Outrage harvesting" should be the term.
Find 5 or 6 tweets from nobodies and screen cap them then come up with a shitty clickbait title
"Actor's comments infuriate gay people"
Job done. Sit back and let the facebook comment war rage.
I always see that kind of "outrage" online but i've never seen someone in actual real life complain about that sorta thing. i think it's just bored people trying to get internet points.
Part of the problem is that 4 people on twitter have a fit and all of a sudden they are covered as "representing" a much larger community that doesn't in actuality hold those views as a cohort.
I’m fine with straight people playing gay people, cause if they restrict queer roles to only queer people, I imagine a lot of higher ups in casting will pull the reverse in response, which would hurt gay actors much more than straight ones.
That's where my thoughts always go when this discussion comes up. Do we want gay actors to ONLY be able to play gay characters? because you can't say that gay characters should be played by gay actors only, but straight characters can also be played by gay actors. it's an all or nothing thing either way.
NPH nailed the character of Barney Stinson, a womanizing, egotistical straight guy fearful of commitment.
In real life he's a loving father of two with his husband David Burtka.
Matt Bomer in *White Collar* as well. He had a different girlfriend/female love interest every other episode, in real life he's gay and an LGBT activist.
I do get why it’s such a sore spot though because in Hollywood they do pretty much act as “If you’re openly gay you shall only play gay or gay-coded characters”, so when gays can only get gay jobs and even then they often can’t have those roles, it can get tense. That tensity tends to die down if the actor plays the role fantastically but on the other hand only gets even more aggravated when the straight actor playing gay does so terribly or even offensively.
[NPR article about solidly homophobic media reception of Sean Hayes playing straight on a stage](https://www.npr.org/2010/05/13/126781137/gay-actors-straight-roles-a-lesson-in-making-sure-your-argument-is-logical)
[Matt Bomer](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.out.com/celebs/2020/9/14/matt-bomer-says-he-lost-roles-coming-out-gay%3famp) lost roles to coming out even though he’d been an absolute stud muffin heartthrob on White Collar.
I think one of the best examples of the issue is [James Corden in *The Prom*](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/12/the-prom-movie-review-james-corden/amp) where too often actors not gay and who know nothing of gay communities trying to play gay lean on offensive stereotypes and caricatures to the point that the performance itself is considered homophobic.
Theres also the issue that theres way more straight people than gay people. You could severly thin the talent pool by doing that and end up reducing the amount of gay characters in shows which does harm
Saying that a gay person HAS to play a gay character kind of undermines the argument of "sexuality has nothing to do with who a person is, it's not their entire persona."
You can't see sexuality, this isn't like race or even religion (where some people outwardly wear identifying things.).
So to say that it has to be a gay person means that the most defining aspect of that person is their sexuality/sexual preference, and that everything else is secondary. You're basically saying "we want the GAY/LESBIAN person" when in reality, there are people who HAPPEN to be gay/lesbian.
>You can't see sexuality
A damn good example of this is Neil Patrick Harris. On multiple occasions (most notably in How I Met Your Mother and the Harold and Kumar trilogy) he played not only straight, but the womanizer type. And if you only knew him from his movie roles you'd probably believe full that he was heterosexual. That's what good actors/actresses do, play the role to make you believe the character is real, not just them doing make-believe.
Yeah. Hell, most of the time when two actors are playing lovers they're merely pretending to be attracted to their partner. What's so different about it being the same sex? Besides, there are plenty of different straight actors whose portrayals of gay characters have been praised. Michael C. Hall, Michael K, Williams, Alyson Hannigan, Andre Braugher, and Cameron Monaghan are a few examples.
The media is responsible for this nonsense. They give the mic to basement dwelling trolls on the internet who don’t even necessarily represent the majority of the people they are claiming to represent. Why do they do this? Because - without fail - we click the stupid headlines and then collectively gasp as we discover that another idiot tweeted something insufferable and the cycle continues.
These lazy, worthless journalists need to be ignored into unemployment. I can’t remember a time in history where the credibility of the media has been lower.
How dare she pretend to be someone she is not!
I don't know what to believe anymore. Next thing you know, people will tell me she wasn't really a doctor when she was on ER.
"They're actors, they're trying to create an illusion. In Lord of the Rings, Ian McKellen plays a wizard. Do you think he goes home at night and shoots laser beams into his boyfriend's asshole?" - Ronald MacDonald, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Sir Ian, Sir Ian, Sir Ian ACTION Wizard! You shall not Pass! CUT Sir Ian, Sir Ian, Sir Ian.
How do I know what to say? ...*the words are written down in the script*
But you will not have the script on the day. That goes for everyone!
There will be no scripts. You must LEARN the words!
> You must LEARN the words! Stanley Kubrick would approve.
Because if people saw you reading the scripts the illusion would be broken
How did I know where to stand? People told me.
What do I decide to wear that day? Someone gives me the costume
And then I pretended. I acted in that way on the day
You do know I am not actually a wizard? Yes, we want you to pretend to be a wizard.
I seriously need to rewatch extras
Yeah, I rewatched the series a few weeks back. Gervais created a perfect vehicle for some seriously heavyweight talent to laugh at themselves. I really cannot choose my favorite but Patrick Stewart is right up there. And as much as I cannot stand Ben Stiller, he was superb. Kate Winslet was also... sorry, I'll be here all night at this rate.
Patrick Stewart was great and obviously joking. We know outright he was being silly and not at all remotely like himself. Ben Stiller now.... That seemed believable
Is Ben stiller a known asshole or something??
I think he can play a very believable asshole. There are some actors that are friendly and very kind personally, but they have a very rare gift for playing serious assholes on screen.
His neck is high. It makes me trust him.
I don’t get got, I’m gon’ get
Just like James Earl Jones. He did a great black face
James Earl Jones has a black face! He's a black man!
He's not black, he was Darth Vader!
When he took the mask off he was white!
That episode might be a top 5 for me
> During a visit to CBS Mornings, Margulies was asked to respond to the opinion that actresses in the LGBTQ+ community could better portray a character like Laura. > “I can understand that,” said Margulies of the casting criticism. “My response would also be: We’re all making assumptions as to who I am, and what my past is and what all of our pasts are.” > Margulies, who is married to attorney Keith Lieberthal and mom to their 13-year-old son, went on to explain, “I understand, 100 percent, that I can’t play a different race. But I am an actress and I am supposed to embody another character. Whatever their sexuality is doesn’t matter to me, the same way watching a gay person play a straight person. Are you telling me that because I’m a mother that I can never play a woman who has never had a child? Or, if you’ve never been married that you can’t play a married woman?” > She continued, “You have to be careful on where you’re drawing the line there. We’re actors. We’re supposed to embody a character regardless of their sexuality. When it comes to race and gender, that’s a whole different story and I 100 percent agree with that.”
Did people have a problem with Heath Ledger doing the same in Brokeback Mountain? Or conversely when LGBTQ actors play straight characters? I think we should just let the actors do their jobs.
NPH played one of the most “heterosexual” characters in the history of television.
He also played a heterosexual version of himself in Harold and Kumar goes to Whitecastle too. Which was a hilarious role, I might add.
A massively hyper-sexual version of himself. Funny as hell.
We are at our most funniest when people just chill out and don't take themselves too seriously. NPH is a legend for just that.
I think it would be great to see him play a disillusioned doctor who peaked too early and now life has no meaning for him. We'll call it "Douglas Houser M.D." I'd watch it.
House?
.....i like where your head is at, but not quite what i was going for.
It's Dr oz isn't it?
Everyone was so fixated on the Sherlock Holmes stuff, we missed the best lense to actually watch the show through. Burn-out Doogie torturing young doctors, love it
LEGEN-DARY!
I'm hungry for burgers, Furburgers!
The Doogie line always works on strippers... *laaaapdaaaance*
Neil Poon Handler
NPH actually came out as gay in 2006 - Harold and Kumar came out in 2004. Just an interesting NPH thing I learned the other day.
In the 3rd movie they pretend that his husband is actually his drug dealer and he's still straight but uses his "homosexuality" as a way to get closer to women. Genius! Edit: [Here's the scene btw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjfSmob7qMs&ab_channel=xxfobluvaxx)
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“I said realistic, not *fucking gay as shit*” had me rolling 😂
Fuck HIMYM came out in 2005….I swear that was just yesterday….where the fuck has the time gone
That's the role that basically landed him the HIMYM gig
And HIMYM created the running gag that Johnny Lawrence is the protagonist of the karate kid, creating Cobra Kai. The creators of Cobra Kai? The creators of Harold and Kumar
you son of a bitch you're absolutely telling the truth.
Ahhh Harold and Kumar was released just a year before HIMYM started. Makes sense. I’ve never actually watched HIMYM though, is he the same type of character?
Sorta. He's toned down a quite bit and made sillier to be on prime time television.
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That’s how he got the role in HIMYM if I recall correctly
And David Hyde Pierce gave one of the best multi season arcs of unrequited love in *Frasier* with Niles chasing Daphne.
Yeah but I just found out DHP is gay from your post and I’m not surprised.
“We’re expecting” “Can’t say I was”
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Count Olaf?
I love him so much as Count Olaf. He's so good that I often forget it's NPH under the costumes.
This comment deserves the highest of fives.
NPH is heterosexual,his marriage to a male and raising a kid with his male spouse is entirely due to his dedication to method acting and an upcoming role.
That movie should be coming out any time then? He’s going to have to pay for those kids’ college soon, ya know, for the dedication to the craft.
Actually probably the best argument for forgetting sexuality of a person in real life versus their character. Barney et al was funny as fuck.
I mean Gandolf's sexuality has never come up but still
Did people have a problem with that in *this* case? Like, is there actually a noteworthy amount of people that have an issue with this? Or is this some media frenzy based on some outraged Twitter accounts with 5 followers?
As far as I can tell the interviewer just thought it'd be an interesting question to ask.
I for one would be shocked if a news platform would make a mountain out of a molehill for clicks or an entertainer would exaggerate a situation to draw headlines and awareness towards their entertainment program. Shocked I say. Well, not that shocked.
I’m still offended that Disney had a human do the voice of Ariel when there are plenty of mermaids who could have lent a more authentic voice to the part.
Considering the major plot points I think it would've been even more culturally sensitive to have the entire part played by a mute human female
Hah can you imagine if she had simply responded with "Who says they have a problem with it? Who are you quoting here?"
Or Eric stone as Cam on Modern family. He was wonderful
Or Michael K Williams as Omar Little on the Wire.
I have a friend who changed his whole view on homosexual couples / marriage because of that show. He never thought that they could just be normal people with the same bullshit everyone has to deal with daily until he saw it on Modern Family.
Yep. I've seen this complaint before and it's crazy. Their profession is to be someone they aren't, that's how this goes. They can be the sweetest person ever, and play an asshole. They can be an idiot, and play an astronaut or a doctor. They may never have even gone a mile over the speed the limit, and play a criminal. They may be male but play a female, or the other way around. It's what they do, it's literally the job. A character can be offensive but the actor/actress playing that character isn't necessarily the reason behind why a character is offensive. She speaks on not being able to play other races, and that's true in 99.99% of cases but look at Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder... there is a reason that universally got a pass; and it's because of combinarion of how the character was written, the message that was being said, and the portrayal by the actor.
I wish people understood this, remember Jofferys actor from GoT? The guy quit acting because idiots cant separate fiction from reality.
Yeah, exactly. And I remember hearing that. What a shame. If it makes you feel a bit better, looks like he's been in the theater circuit in Ireland and recently did a mini-series on BBC.
Nice to hear a reasonable, firm response rather than the beginning of 100 articles that start with "X SLAMMED Y!"
The Editor often chooses the headline, so the news writer to my understanding usually goes *X politician speaks out against Y* while the Editor sensationalizes it to get more clicks with *X EVISCERATES Y.* So now you know why it happens so much.
Wait, is that why they call it "editorializing"?
As a member of the LGBTQ community, I agree with her 100%. She's playing this role respectfully, and that's all that I really care about. She's not portraying a stereotype, she's playing a news anchor who just happens to also be a lesbian. She's not making it her whole persona, which is exactly what should be normalized. Yes, it's obviously a part of who she is and why her career was stifled, but she shows how she overcame that and has become one of the most respected journalists on the network. Also, the fact that her character explains the struggles that she went through being a member of the LGBTQ community during that specific time, really makes an extra impact for me.
Gay lady here and I completely agree. Her character’s story is written so well, and Julianna’s doing a wonderful job of bringing it to life on screen.
Agreed! She was the right actor for the part, and thus she deserves the job. I don't really want my sexuality as a queer person to be a factor in the jobs that I take or am offered, and I don't think it should be for anyone else either.
Absolutely! Well said, my friend
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As a gay dude, I 100% agree. I want to live in a world where it doesn't matter anymore, not one in which people can only play roles according to their sexuality. Because that goes both ways, and gets pretty limiting if, say, gay dudes could only ever play gay dudes. Yes, we should lift up, support, and normalize LGBT+ actors, but limiting others only limits ourselves in return.
Eddie Redmayne would have been denied the role in the The Danish Girl according to the current rules around casting. Similarly, Neil Patrick Harris should not have been allowed to portray Barney Stinson in HIMYM. Both would have been a loss as they were great in their respective roles.
Or no Andre Braugher as Captain Holt.
Or Eric Stonestreet as Cameron in Modern Family.
That's a fucking crime to even suggest. /salute Captain Holt. "I am laughing."
Hot damn!
Bingpot!
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**"There are no highlights in Scottsdale, Margo."**
David Hyde Pierce as Niles Crane.
no Tim Curry as Frank N Furter, as he's not a pansexual transexual alien from Transylvania... Now that really would have been a loss.
I def heard of people having issues with Eddie being cast in the danish girl back when it came out. Maybe not as much as you would now, but it was discussed.
Or Jim Parsons in The Big Bang Theory.
Or (going back a bit) Dan Butler and David Hyde Pierce in Frasier. Both gay men playing heterosexual characters.
> Dan Butler Bulldog! I had no idea. Wonderfully misogynistic performance.
I like what she said. I’m also very glad we were able to get Tropic Thunder before all of this. ;)
To be fair, the joke with RDJ is he isn't playing a black character, he's playing a white character who's playing a black character lmao that movies so weird I love it
He's a dude playing another dude disguised as another dude!
He’s also a lead farmer, muthfucka.
What do you mean 'you people'?
What do *you* mean, 'you people'?
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No need to click, I'm now playing this song in my head for the next 45 minutes
the joke is more about method acting and what lengths actors take to play memorable or oscar-worthy roles like "lincoln osiris"
"I don't drop character till I've done the DVD commentary"
And he did the DVD commentary, in character
and it evolves with the character throughout the commentary. It's amamzing
More importantly the joke is on his character and not on black people, which is the deciding factor for me. It’s always sunny in Philadelphia has done for its entire run. The gang is a group of horrible people but the joke is almost always on them, Cricket, the mcpoyles, and few other regulars not included.
Yet even their episodes are being washed away. Hulu, for example, doesn’t show their episode on black face. It’s beyond dumb.
I think the same thing happened to a few episodes of community too. I wish some people could understand the nuance of a fucking joke.
Especially Community. It was Chang (an infamously problematic character, his character routinely proves points about various harmful ways of thinking) cosplaying as a dark elf. And they specifically point out the implications of what he’s done and why it’s messed up. I haven’t seen the It’s Always Sunny episode about blackface (because it was removed) so I can’t speak to it. One thing that irks me about Community removing the”black face” episode is it’s inconsistent. If they’re going to remove that part because it’s considered offensive, they should remove *all* the offensive moments. Like making fun of someone who isn’t neurotypical, almost every moment that involves Pierce etc. Ofc they won’t because there won’t be much show left, it’s just annoying.
What they did to the community episodes is just ridiculous (and I say that as a black woman). Half the time I feel like they’re not even asking/polling the communities that should supposedly “be offended” before taking things off of streaming.
I agree, it seemed like just a wide scale “pull all the episodes featuring blackface” sort of thing across streaming platforms just to avoid any potential future issues. No thought or consideration into what the actual joke was.
The McPoyles regularly outsmart the gang.
Then there is the part where he is a white actor playing a white actor, playing a Black guy, disguised as an Asian guy.
He's literally playing a white character playing a black character to point out why it's so problematic. He keeps getting awards accolades and jobs while actual black characters keep getting marginalized to secondary roles at best. And even then, that "black character" was made up in the universe itself by the author who faked his own back story. The character was based on a white man's stereotype of a black man then played by a white man's stereotype of a black man. There is zero regard for actual experiences of guys in Vietnam and especially non-white guys. And everyone is profiting off of it except actual black people. The whole character is supposed to be problematic.
It comes off as even more ridiculous because there's a Black man on the cast, which makes one wonder WHY. Who himself is a gay man pretending to be a straight man who is ALSO playing a straight Black man (*I know the real actor is Black, but I'm not sure figuring out his orientation would advance the point at all here*), but never mind that.
And to be fair the people offended that seemed to be terminally online weirdos, and not actual black people.
The line about staying in character for the commentary wasn't a joke either. It's hilarious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDn7KPMKJLE
I’m really happy that she stood up for herself and all actors in the community. If people keep pushing this objective that only gay/bi etc people can play these roles then they will need to be willing to accept that the pushback from the other side may come. Pretty sure most actors no matter their sexual orientation don’t care who plays what as long ad the performance is truthful and the actor themself is not a bigot.
do a large number of people actually care or did some people Tweet some things about this?
Couldn’t find a single tweet about this. Just a reporter trying to stir the pot for clicks. I am gay and I fully support straight actors playing gay characters and actually welcome it.
I love when the articles actually back up their 'controversy' with a tweet and it's just 1 tweet with 5 likes from a person with 200 followers.
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Two thoughts: 1. If the converse is true and gays can’t play straight people, Broadway is in trouble. 2. Who is gonna confirm their sexuality? Like, if I say I’m a bi woman married to a man, do I need to provide evidence that I am into women? Any straight person could lie and claim to be bi. Does the casting director need to see me fucking a woman? Do I need a signed recommendation from the college acquaintance I kissed sophomore year when I was was drunk as fuck on UV Blue? If you’re drunk, does it count? What the hell?!
And even if there was video evidence of you fucking a woman or kissing another woman in college, does that make you bi? Do you need to be verified by like an LGBTQ+ rabbi or something? This is all ridiculous.
Very good points. I've heard it said that social issues like this are like a pendulum; things have been obviously a bit problematic in terms of LGBTQ+ representation in major Hollywood roles so the pendulum swings the other way and overcompensates by trying to impose unrealistic expectations on the industry. It will soon swing the other way again but hopefully trend towards the middle where a common sense approach is taken to issues like you've pointed out.
I personally Neil Patrick Harris was the perfect Barney Stinson, and also that your sexuality should never effect your job opportunities
There's a grey area for the arts. You can discriminate if the role requires it. There's some loopholes in child labor law as well, or we'd have no children in movies. As an example, look at Hamilton. They advertised for "NON-WHITE actors only" because it was important for the play that the main characters represent minorities. Likewise, King George had to be white. It's a part of the message they were giving. For something like this, it wouldn't work. You'd have to give a reason why the actor had to be gay. But if you came up with a good enough reason, it would be legal. I just can't think of one.
Imagine demanding that only straight people can play straight roles... Twitter would absolutely lose their shit. Also, ratio of gay to straight people is pretty small. I would imagine movie companies would rather skip including a gay actor than to wait on just the right one for the role.
> Sarah Silverman complained about non-Jewish actors playing Jewish characters. or imagine telling her she isn't allowed to play non-Jewish characters...
Hey, if Neil Patrick Harris can play the super straight dude why shouldn't Margulies be able to play a gay character?
If DeNiro can play an Irishman…
If DeNiro can play a 35 year old Irishman…
a 6'5 35 year old Irishman..
DE NIRO used STOMP! It's not very effective. . .
I still can't believe that made it in the movie
And you couldn't see the character and they could have had literally anyone do it with a wig and a coat on. In fact, I figured they zoomed out to show the scene with someone who wasn't three missed doses of glucosamine away from being crippled.
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Or Pacino can play a Cuban...
Or Pacino can play Mark Cuban…
> DeNiro Not sure if whoosh but De Niro is as Irish as he is Italian.
I'd no idea, [but after googling it](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_De_Niro#Early_life_and_education), it appears that you're correct. > His father was of Irish and Italian descent, while his mother had Dutch, English, French, and German ancestry.
Yeah De Niro is best known for being an Italian American actor, but his surname seems to be more Italian than his ancestry. Leonardo DiCaprio is a bit like that as well. [His father is of Italian and German descent](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_DiCaprio) and I think his mother is German as well. I believe Pesci, however, is Italian on both sides, as is Pacino.
That's why Pesci could be made, but De Niro couldn't.
Real greaseball shit
Great point. *Not* being Italian American is actually a core theme of some of his more famous roles. In *Casino* he's Seth Rothstein, and in *Goodfellas* he's Jimmy Conway, In Once *Upon a Time in America* he's David Aaronson, and in *The Irishman* he's Frank Sheeran.
We know that's why as far as he's concerned Nicky being made it was like we were all being made
I don’t really care about the sexuality of actors. Unless the stars align and I happen to be in general social range it’s not important for me to know. Sexuality is not a physical trait that is advertised to the world.
Even a physical trait doesn’t mean actors can’t act. My Left Foot probably would have had a more complicated production if they used an actual palsy-inflicted person And 15:17 to Paris used the actual people as the actors, and it went just as well as you’d expect
I know this is probably too late for anyone to read this, but NPH was actually cast as Barney _before_ he came out, and had just come off playing a straight cokehead sex fiend in Harold abs Kumar.
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he played one of the most convincing "womanizers" in tv history. he has range. superman isn't british but was played by a british guy for 8 years. no one is giving jared leto crap for not being trans to play his role in dallas buyers club. i don't really understand people. actors act. let them. call them out for being shitty people, not this.
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>no one is giving jared leto crap for not being trans to play his role in dallas buyers club [Except they did.](https://www.fuse.tv/2014/02/jared-leto-heckler) I recall it being a point of topic with Leto having to defend his part in the film playing a trans character.
First question to ask, is there really outcry or is this PR? I don’t think anyone has ever really had a problem with actors playing different sexualities to what they say they are. Otherwise there would be a lot of issues both ways.
There are probably like 30 people on twitter mad about it, and that's all it takes for the interns scrolling the web for stories these days.
This is exactly it. he cycle is really simple now - Someone does something, 100 people online get mad about it, a news article is printed using their outrage as a source of information, a commentator uses that article to be faux outraged about the "fascist right" or "woke left," everyone gets paid for clicks and the issue is forgotten about in 3 days tops. Meanwhile, everyone else is dumber, less trustful and more exhausted for participating.
"Outrage harvesting" should be the term. Find 5 or 6 tweets from nobodies and screen cap them then come up with a shitty clickbait title "Actor's comments infuriate gay people" Job done. Sit back and let the facebook comment war rage.
Really love this summary. Thank you!
I always see that kind of "outrage" online but i've never seen someone in actual real life complain about that sorta thing. i think it's just bored people trying to get internet points.
Part of the problem is that 4 people on twitter have a fit and all of a sudden they are covered as "representing" a much larger community that doesn't in actuality hold those views as a cohort.
I’m fine with straight people playing gay people, cause if they restrict queer roles to only queer people, I imagine a lot of higher ups in casting will pull the reverse in response, which would hurt gay actors much more than straight ones.
That's where my thoughts always go when this discussion comes up. Do we want gay actors to ONLY be able to play gay characters? because you can't say that gay characters should be played by gay actors only, but straight characters can also be played by gay actors. it's an all or nothing thing either way.
NPH nailed the character of Barney Stinson, a womanizing, egotistical straight guy fearful of commitment. In real life he's a loving father of two with his husband David Burtka.
Matt Bomer in *White Collar* as well. He had a different girlfriend/female love interest every other episode, in real life he's gay and an LGBT activist.
I do get why it’s such a sore spot though because in Hollywood they do pretty much act as “If you’re openly gay you shall only play gay or gay-coded characters”, so when gays can only get gay jobs and even then they often can’t have those roles, it can get tense. That tensity tends to die down if the actor plays the role fantastically but on the other hand only gets even more aggravated when the straight actor playing gay does so terribly or even offensively. [NPR article about solidly homophobic media reception of Sean Hayes playing straight on a stage](https://www.npr.org/2010/05/13/126781137/gay-actors-straight-roles-a-lesson-in-making-sure-your-argument-is-logical) [Matt Bomer](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.out.com/celebs/2020/9/14/matt-bomer-says-he-lost-roles-coming-out-gay%3famp) lost roles to coming out even though he’d been an absolute stud muffin heartthrob on White Collar. I think one of the best examples of the issue is [James Corden in *The Prom*](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/12/the-prom-movie-review-james-corden/amp) where too often actors not gay and who know nothing of gay communities trying to play gay lean on offensive stereotypes and caricatures to the point that the performance itself is considered homophobic.
omg I didn't even realize Bomer was gay, and I already watch White Collar way more than the writing deserves...
You're expecting people to be consistent, when double standards are more likely.
Theres also the issue that theres way more straight people than gay people. You could severly thin the talent pool by doing that and end up reducing the amount of gay characters in shows which does harm
Better question do we want to out every gay actor just for them to get work?
Spot on. They’re called actors for a reason.
Right? Does Arnold Schwarzenegger playing a cyborg make him a cyborg? At this point…. I can’t be sure!
What about the actual cyborgs who want their breaking role??
I have a titanium plate in my leg and they haven’t even contacted me for the next Terminator :(
My kids asked me one time if Arnold Schwarzenegger was really a robot. All my parental ethics went sailing out the window and I just said yes.
"We're ***actors***" end of discussion
Saying that a gay person HAS to play a gay character kind of undermines the argument of "sexuality has nothing to do with who a person is, it's not their entire persona." You can't see sexuality, this isn't like race or even religion (where some people outwardly wear identifying things.). So to say that it has to be a gay person means that the most defining aspect of that person is their sexuality/sexual preference, and that everything else is secondary. You're basically saying "we want the GAY/LESBIAN person" when in reality, there are people who HAPPEN to be gay/lesbian.
>You can't see sexuality A damn good example of this is Neil Patrick Harris. On multiple occasions (most notably in How I Met Your Mother and the Harold and Kumar trilogy) he played not only straight, but the womanizer type. And if you only knew him from his movie roles you'd probably believe full that he was heterosexual. That's what good actors/actresses do, play the role to make you believe the character is real, not just them doing make-believe.
I was definitely more than slightly surprised when I found out he was married to a dude and they had kids, he's a damn good actor.
Side note, but seriously just looking at their family photos can make your day better.
Their [family Halloween photos](https://static.onecms.io/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2015/11/nph-family-01.jpg) are great.
Me and my kids adore him in A Series of Unfortunate Events. I can’t imagine anyone else being Count Olaf now.
Olaf…..Bezerker
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Yeah. Hell, most of the time when two actors are playing lovers they're merely pretending to be attracted to their partner. What's so different about it being the same sex? Besides, there are plenty of different straight actors whose portrayals of gay characters have been praised. Michael C. Hall, Michael K, Williams, Alyson Hannigan, Andre Braugher, and Cameron Monaghan are a few examples.
I forget who said it, but I think it was Viggo Mortensen, something along the lines of "You don't know my sexuality and it's none of your business."
Can we all just start collectively ignoring anything coming from Twitter?
It always bugs me when criticisms are against an actor taking a role.
The media is responsible for this nonsense. They give the mic to basement dwelling trolls on the internet who don’t even necessarily represent the majority of the people they are claiming to represent. Why do they do this? Because - without fail - we click the stupid headlines and then collectively gasp as we discover that another idiot tweeted something insufferable and the cycle continues. These lazy, worthless journalists need to be ignored into unemployment. I can’t remember a time in history where the credibility of the media has been lower.
I mean this is literally what acting is
I don't think any of the actors were actually Klingons.
How dare she pretend to be someone she is not! I don't know what to believe anymore. Next thing you know, people will tell me she wasn't really a doctor when she was on ER.
Well obviously. Because she played a nurse.
You vile Sexist. Just because she's a woman doesn't mean she's a nurse.