Gays of our Lives (May 26, 2009)

GOOL NEWSBEAT
Did a Young and the Restless actor quit over a same-sex kiss? Why did Heather Locklear turn down the Melrose Place gig? Plus times are changing for Ugly Betty and Southland, trouble on the set of Coronation Street, Hollyoaks’ bisexual Ravi Roy is set for a hot summer storyline – and more!

You gotta admit, the kiss would’ve been pretty hot…

Last week the drama on the set of The Young and the Restless was as provocative and scandalous as anything playing out on screen. Actor Chris Engen, who played the role of dastardly Adam Wilson for over a year, walked off the set and quit after allegedly refusing to do a same-sex kiss with co-star Yani Gellman, who plays Adam’s gay lawyer Rafe Torres.

Engen reportedly was reading a new script when he found out about the intimate scene between himself and Gellman. This led to a confrontation with the show’s producers and resulted in Engen leaving his job. Apparently this was only the latest in a series of frustrations the young actor had with his role.

Chris Engen

According to The Suds Report, which broke the story, Engen had been unhappy for months with the villainous direction his character had gone and, as a result, had been calling in sick for work and had several meetings with Y&R brass to discuss his future on the show.

Engen’s character, Adam Wilson, is currently embroiled in a Hitchcockian plotline in which he pretended to be blind in an attempt to drive his father’s pregnant fiancée mad.

While Engen wasn’t happy with his storyline, it was apparently the upcoming kiss that was the last straw, according to several sources. Engen’s character, while straight, was reportedly to embark on an affair with Gellman’s Rafe as a way to keep him quiet about his evil schemes.

Several of Engen’s co-stars are believed to have tried to convince the actor not to leave his meaty, attention-getting role for fear of how having walked off a show while under contract might affect his future. Clearly, their efforts were to no avail.