Which Hollywood Actors Are Homophobic?

Today: The Flying Monkey answers all questions, including: why are so many online fandoms so queer?

Have a question about gay male entertainment? Contact me here (and be sure and include your city and state and/or country!)

Q: I heard recently that [a famous singer] was so homophobic that members of the chorus in [a Broadway show] wanted to bring him up on charges. Do you know any of the details? Also, are there any other performers you can name who have reputations for their homophobic behavior? – Mike, West Hills, CA

A: I wasn’t able to verify the dispute you refer to, and it would surprise me, because the actor has worked with plenty of gay and gay-friendly actors before.

Other homophobic actors? South of Nowhere’s Danso Gordon famously left that show because he was upset by the positive portrayal of a character’s coming out and what he perceived to be a negative portrayal of a Christian character – though he later had a very public change of heart, in part because of the reaction to the incident.

In a 2008 mini-scandal, The Daily Beast reported that Mickey Rourke texted someone that, despite playing a gay character, Sean Penn was “one of the most homophobic people i kno [sic].” Rourke later denied both the text and the sentiment.

In 2009, actor Bronson Pinchot accused Tom Cruise of making “constant” homophobic jokes on the set of 1983’s Risky Business – although he later clarified that the comments were unremarkable at the time, given that Cruise, unlike most actors, had not come from a theater background.

In 2009, it was reported that soap actor Chris Engen left the set of The Young and the Restless rather than kiss another man (and the part was recast) – though he later issued a statement saying that that was not the reason he left the show.

Legend has it that Denzel Washington counseled Will Smith not to kiss another man in Six Degrees of Separation for “image” reasons (and Smith complied) – although Washington later co-starred in the landmark AIDS movie Philadelphia.

Ernest Borgnine and Tony Curtis both publicly said unkind things about Brokeback Mountain, which they refused to see, despite being voting members of the Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (which had nominated the film for Oscars).

Jon Cryer said some pretty ridiculous things about gays during a recent Emmy “roundtable” discussion.

Mel Gibson, Isaiah Washington, and Victoria Jackson have all been accused of homophobia. In Gibson’s and Jackson’s case, I think we can safely assume the accusations are true (although Gibson is friends with semi-out lesbian Jodie Foster). Washington has apologized for the infamous incident where he referred to a gay co-star as a “faggot” (but he’s also argued that the whole dispute happened in the first place because of racism).

Hugh Grant made an on-air comment during a March rugby game that some people thought was homophobic. "I discovered it hurt less if you tackled hard, than if you tackled like a queen," he said of his own attempts at sports.

But what does it mean to be “homophobic” exactly? Even on this site – which is mostly GLBT or GLBT-supportive folks – there have been passionate disagreements about whether a portrayal, joke, or comment is “homophobic” – and it usually comes down to a question of interpretation and intent. Who decides?

As a general rule, I think most Hollywood actors are far more GLBT-friendly than the rest of society, and within Hollywood, I suspect women tend to be more tolerant than men, and (as Pinchot says) theater actors are generally more tolerant that non-theater actors.

Q: So I, like a lot of people, was surprised by that recent study that looked at online fandoms and ranked the top thirteen. Everyone made a big deal about the fact that Supernatural, which doesn’t have that many viewers, came in first, while Glee only came in twelfth. But what I think is more interesting is how many of the top fandoms have such strong gay or slash fandoms: Supernatural, Glee, Smallville, The Vampire Diaries, Hawaii Five O. What’s that about? – Mark, West Palm Beach, FL

Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles of Supernatural

A: First, about that “study.” Before we give it too much credit, keep in mind that it was the work of one college student, and the conclusions were based on a completely voluntary online survey, sponsored by one specific website.

But polls are the most “scientifically accurate” when their subjects are randomly chosen.

Think of it like this. Say you’re in a stadium with 100,000 people. You turn to the guy on your left and ask him his favorite color: how likely is it that he’s speaking for the entire stadium? But what if you randomly pick 100 people and ask them? What about a 1000? At some point, the odds strongly favor the fact that the opinions of the subset will mostly match those of the whole group.

But what if you don’t choose the people randomly? What if you stand up and yell, “Hey, I’m making list of everyone’s favorite color! Who wants to tell me?”

Then you’re measuring something different – the willingness of people to tell you their favorite color. These opinions aren’t necessarily going to match the whole group. What if people who like red are more likely to yell out? What if people whose favorite color is blue are lazy or shy?

Basically, this fandom study is fun, but kinda junk science.

Still, this “voluntary” fandom survey may not be completely worthless: after all, word of the survey eventually spread to most of the different fandoms, and since you could argue that the more passionate fans would be more likely to reply, it was a legitimate measure of fandom “passion.”

And in fairness to the researcher, she tried to corroborate the survey with demographic information, web rankings, and other data.

But just because a fandom is more insular to itself – or more self-confident about proving its passion to some website – that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s any less “passionate” about their show, does it? What if a particular fandom was too stupid to work their way through the 10-minute survey – or they held a grudge against the sponsoring website? What if a fandom was dishonest and encouraged their members to take the survey more than once? This would all bias the results, which should be taken with an entire shaker of salt.

But Mark, what of the “gay” element you mentioned in most online fandoms?

I don’t even have a pseudo-scientific study to back up my thoughts, just my own thoughts and observations, but I totally agree with you that it’s there.

Why? My theory is that men and women tend to interact with the internet in different ways. Women tend toward social media and interaction, and men tend toward, well … porn. As a result, fandoms are made up more of women … who, in lieu of porn, are often drawn to things slash-related (which is primarily or exclusively “gay,” depending on who you ask).

In other words, a lot of fandoms definitely have a queer “energy” – even if their members aren’t necessarily or even primarily gay. I’ve even seen it in fandoms you wouldn’t think would be that way – like, say, the Legend of the Seeker fandom.

Make sense? It’s my theory, and I’m stickin’ to it. But remember: it’s just my gut feeling, so take it with an entire lick of salt.

Have a question about gay male entertainment? Contact me here (and be sure and include your city and state and/or country!)