Gale Harold reflects on “Queer as Folk”

In the latest issue of Rage Monthly includes a really terrific interview with actor Gale Harold who played Brian Kinney for five seasons on Queer as Folk.

Gale and The L Word’s Jennifer Beals were honored earlier this month at The Center Orange County 2010 Gala Celebration for their contribution to the LGBT experience due to their roles on these landmark Showtime dramas.

Of Queer as Folk, Gale says: “There are hundreds of specific memories but I think in terms of overall memory that comes back to me is how invigorating it was to be working on that role. It was frightening to me taking on that part because I’d seen Aiden Gillen in the original [UK version] by Russell T. Davies. I’m glad that I did but it was such a strong performance, I wanted to bring something that could stand up to it. It was such a bold character and a bold performance. I needed to let everything happen as it should and try to be honest at all times. That’s one of the things I really remember. … It was a little touch and go at first because I just had to make choices and not let myself be swayed by my own self-editing or nervousness. It was very clear to me that I was taking on an important responsibility, but I didn’t want myself to get bogged down by trying to do the right thing. I didn’t want to live up to a bunch of expectations that would be unrealistic to the life the character was leading.”

Gale shares what is his favorite scene that he did and it was opposite Sharon Gless who played the mom of his best friend Michael (Hal Sparks): “There’s a scene that Sharon and I did in my loft smoking a joint. … I feel it’s some of the best work that I did in the show. It’s a moment where Brian is so alone. He actually gets to jack into someone in a way that’s just about love, you know? It’s about what he couldn’t get from his own family; he got it from his best friend’s mother. I think that’s a beautiful thing. It’s kind of how life is more often than not. Sometimes we have to take love where we can find it. He was fortunate to have Michael as a friend and then to have Michael’s mother Debbie give him some heart. He didn’t have a lot of it in his own home.”

The actor, who is straight and played Teri Hatcher’s boyfriend on ABC’s Desperate Housewives, was asked by the magazine what he thought of the recent Newsweek article in which writer Ramin Setoodeh contended that openly gay actors like Sean Hayes and Jonathan Groff are not convincing in heterosexual romantic roles.

“I think that was ill-conceived and a little strange for someone who should be supporting his comrades to take a shot like that,” Gale said. “But, hopefully, he’ll learn a lesson when he goes to Glee school and understands things better. To take a shot at Sean Hayes who has a really established career on stage and screen. Someone who now is a successful, out, working actor and to take a shot at him in Newsweek just seems so petty, you know?”

Jane Lynch on Newsweek/Glee Controversy

Glee creator Ryan Murphy and occasional guest-star Kristin Chenoweth both released statements last week condemning the Newsweek article “Straight Jacket,” which claimed gay actors could not convincingly play straight characters. Murphy then announced that the article’s writer, Ramin Setoodeh, had agreed to visit with Murphy and his Glee writers.

Entertainment Weekly spoke with Glee star (and out lesbian) Jane Lynch, who applauded Murphy and Chenoweth’s statements but also believes that Setoodeh is allowed to have his own opinions. “The thing is, actors are actors: You can’t play gay anymore than you can play somebody who’s Catholic,” says Lynch. “Aaron Sorkin wrote a wonderful thing in the Huffington Post. I don’t think you have to slap somebody down for making an opinion that you don’t agree with. But I do think what Kristin and Ryan did was so important, and I’m glad that they said it. It doesn’t mean, ‘Off with [Setoodeh's] head.’ But I’m very glad, and I thought it was very heroic what the two of them did.”

Alan Cumming on Newsweek Writer: “He is a Self-Hating Gay, and He is a Danger to Us All”

Tony winner Alan Cumming took to his own website to slam Newsweek writer Ramin Seetodeh fir his recent article that took to task openly gay actors in straight roles.

Seetodeh singled out recent work by Sean Hayes and Jonathan Groff specifically and has been slammed for his comments by Kristen Chenoweth, Ryan Murphy, Dustin Lance Black, Michael Urie and Cheyenne Jackson, among others.

Here’s some of what the openly gay Cumming, who has played many straight roles in his career on stage, film and television, had to say:

Ramin Seetodeh is gay. He is a self-hating gay, and he is a danger to us all … But sadly he is not alone. His article has ignited a conversation that I think highlights the fact that self-hating gays operate at the highest level of the entertainment industry: casting directors, producers, directors, agents, managers, publicists, who are themselves gay willingly engage in the oppression of their fellow gay actors. An actor who is publicly out is not heralded as a role model or celebrated amongst this dark little band of unhappy people but derided and mocked, and their exclusion from projects in which they might play straight is borne, often, by this band of their self-hating brothers and sisters.

Dustin Lance Black Slams 'Homophobic' Newsweek

Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black has joined a growing list of stars who have slammed editors at Newsweek magazine after a popular columnist criticised gay actors Jonathan Groff and Sean Hayes for portraying straight men.

The openly-gay moviemaker won an Oscar for the 2008 film, starring Sean Penn as homosexual politician Harvey Milk, and he's fuming over the controversial piece, which saw columnist Ramin Setoodeh single out Glee star Groff and Hayes, who is currently appearing on Broadway in Promises, Promises.

He's joined forces with Jarrett Barrios, the president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), to pen a letter to The Hollywood Reporter expressing his anger over the article, which was published last month.

They write, "Sadly, he (Setoodeh) seems to raise more questions about his own internalised biases than what the 'public' actually perceives. The public is thrilled with Jonathan Groff's turn as a leading man on Glee... (and) while Setoodeh zeroes in on Sean Hayes on Broadway, he refuses to mention how Americans have embraced the openly gay current and past leading men.

"America is starting to embrace open gay and lesbian actors in heterosexual roles on stage and screen and Setoodeh himself is not yet ready to.

"Maybe Setoodeh can't see Glee and Promises, Promises except through a lens of dark stereotypes he's inherited. Maybe he's got some axe to grind. But whatever the reason, with the stakes so high for gay Americans at this moment, it is no excuse for his editors inflicting such hurtful - and baseless - musings on the readers of Newsweek. We'd all have been better off leaving Setoodeh's tortured thoughts on his therapist's couch and leaving baseless stories like this one on the editor's desk."

Kristin Chenoweth and Glee creator Ryan Murphy have also blasted the article, with Murphy urging Americans not to buy the magazine until editors apologise for the piece.

Cheyenne Jackson and Michael Urie Speak Out Against Newsweek Writer

An article by Newsweek writer Ramin Setoodeh with the point of view that openly gay actors cannot play straight convincingly, has prompted some big showbiz names to speak out publicly.

First Tony winner Kristin Chenoweth took the writer to task in a published rebuttal and now out stars Cheyenne Jackson and Michael Urie have also said their piece. AfterElton.com reports that the actors spoke out at a talkback event Monday night following a performance of Urie’s off-Broadway play The Tempermentals.

“It was very veiled self-loathing. Really upsetting,” Jackson said. “Everytime we go forward, some asshole like this takes us back a bit. I was really glad that Kristin Chenoweth wrote what she did [in defense of her Promises, Promises co-star Sean Hayes and other openly gay actors]. She sent it to me before it went out and about. I was very proud of her. For me to stand up and say, ‘F*ck you,’ that’s what you’d expect. But for someone like Kristin, she stands up for what she believes in and is very committed.”

Added Urie: “Cheyenne was f*cking Elvis in All Shook Up. He was sexy and hot. He’s always playing straight. And people buy tickets to see him. No straight critics accuse Sean Penn of not being able to play Harvey Milk or [criticize] Tom Hanks in Philadelphia.”

Update: Setoodeh is defending himself in a piece called Out of Focus in which he writes in part:

…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? It’s hard to say, because no actor like that exists. 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 not.

I realize this is a complicated subject matter, but the Internet sometimes has a way of oversimplfying things. My article became a straw man for homophobia and hurt in the world. If you were pro-gay, you were anti-NEWSWEEK. Chenoweth’s argument that gay youth need gay role models is true, but that’s not what I was talking about. I was sharing my honest impression about a play that I saw. If you don’t agree with me, I’m more than happy to hear opposing viewpoints. But I was hoping to start a dialogue that would be thoughtful—not to become a target for people who twisted my words. I’m not a conservative writer with an antigay agenda. I don’t hate gay people or myself.

'Glee' Creator Ryan Murphy Calls for Newsweek Boycott After 'Homophobic' Article

Actress Kristin Chenoweth isn't the only one upset with Newsweek for their recent article about gay actors playing straight characters. 'Glee' creator Ryan Murphy has also expressed his deep disappointment with the magazine in an open letter--and is pushing fans for a boycott of Newsweek, http://www.ew.com/ reports.

Murphy begins his letter, "I would like to join my good friend Kristin Chenoweth on her condemnation of a recent Newsweek article written by Mr. Ramin Setoodeh, in which Setoodeh basically says that out gay actors should go back into the closet and never attempt to play straight characters."

Murphy has strong ties to several of the actors cited in the Newsweek article: Jonathan Groff is currently guest starring on his show 'Glee' and Sean Hayes is starring in 'Promises, Promises' on Broadway with former 'Glee' guest star Chenoweth.

One of Murphy's biggest issues with the article and the backlash that immediately followed is the overall silence from Newsweek. "But what is the most shocking of all is that Newsweek went ahead and published such a blatantly homophobic article in the first place...and has remained silent in the face of ongoing (and justified) criticism."

Later in his open letter, Murphy requests an apology be issued to the actors named in the article as well as to all the gay readers of the magazine. Until that is done, he alongside GLAAD president Jarrett Barrios, has asked for an immediate boycott of Newsweek.

To see Murphy's letter in its entirety, visit EW.com.

Broadway's Kristin Chenoweth Attacks Newsweek Over 'Homophobic' Article

Actress Kristin Chenoweth has taken aim at Newsweek magazine after a popular columnist attacked her gay Promises, Promises co-star Sean Hayes for portraying a straight man on Broadway.

Ramin Setoodeh suggested the former Will & Grace star was "wooden and insincere" in an online article, titled Straight Jacket, about homosexuals playing it straight on Broadway.

Appalled by the piece, Chenoweth penned an open letter, defending a gay star's right to play any role, and posted it on several social network sites over the weekend.

She wrote, "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.

"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.

"This article offends me because I am a human being, a woman and a Christian. For example, there was a time when Jewish actors had to change their names because anti-Semites thought no Jew could convincingly play Gentile.

"I know how much it means to young people struggling with their sexuality to see out & proud actors like Sean Hayes, (Glee star) Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris and Cynthia Nixon succeeding in their work without having to keep their sexuality a secret. I encourage Newsweek to embrace stories which promote acceptance, love, unity and singing and dancing for all!"

7 Things You Don’t Know About Ian Somerhalder

Vampire Diaries and Lost hunk Ian Somerhalder talks “7 Things” with Newsweek.

The 30-year-old actor shared, “I auditioned for [Jason Stackhouse on] True Blood and couldn’t rock it to convince [creator] Alan Ball that that was my role. I didn’t get it and I was very bummed. I couldn’t watch True Blood until now because now I have my own role. But before that, I was convinced I couldn’t play a vampire because I blew the audition.”

Check out the other six things Ian shares below: