Mike O'Malley Might Not Have an Emmy (Yet), But He Has Legions of Gay Fans

Given that AfterElton.com is a site devoted to covering gay and bisexual men in popular culture, one might assume that Neil Patrick Harris' first Emmy win for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his role on Glee would have been met with nothing but unanimous acclaim by our readers. In point of fact, however, many readers think they Emmy should have gone to another Glee actor: Mike O'Malley.

Make no mistake; almost all of those who think O'Malley should have one, agree Harris was long overdue for an Emmy win. But if one performance was going to be singled out on Glee for this award, these readers think it should go to the man who has so memorably played Kurt Hummel's dad. Such is the power of O'Malley's performance as the blue collar Burt Hummel, a widowed dad trying to do his best by a gay son he clearly doesn't understand, that so many gay and bi men are in his corner.

AfterElton.com caught up with O'Malley two days after he lost the Emmy to Harris to discuss what the Emmy nomination meant to him, acting with onscreen son Chris Colfer and much more!

AfterElton: Congratulations on the Emmy nomination. I'm sorry that you didn't take home the statue.
Mike O'Malley: Yes. Well, thank you. Of course it's fun to get dressed up. Not many people ask me to get dressed up and go places, and it was fun to be there. But Neil is an extremely deserving actor and his performance in Glee was just terrific ... and then the Tony Awards.

It just goes to show you how classy a guy he is, that in the midst of his moment he allowed some space to congratulate me during his acceptance speech. It just shows you a little bit of his magnanimousness, which is authentic.

AE: They're not going to air the Creative Emmys until Friday. What did he say?
MO: Well, you know, it was kind of a blur. You're frickin' waiting there for three hours to find out if you won the award, and then it happens and then, you know, obviously it's not happening for you, and it's sort of surreal.

He's up there accepting his award and he has very gracious comments he's saying in front of everybody about you. I would be paraphrasing, but I think he was just saying "I just want to single out Mike O'Malley for the work that he's been doing on Glee, which has been fantastic."

Again, I'm paraphrasing- that's what I took away from it. (laughs)

Neil Patrick Harris with his Emmy Awards

AE: He does seem like a class act guy.
MO: I had seen him do All My Sons at the Geffen Theater before How I Met Your Mother, I think. I'd only met him once before and again, here he is taking some time in his big moment to acknowledge me. It was just very very very kind. Everyone I know who's met him and worked with him ... it's authentic.

AE: How surprised were you when you got the nomination?
MO: I was completely shocked. A lot of people say, awards and stuff like this is something that happens through the advent of publicity, and I hadn't had a publicist angling. Well, I don't know if there's angling.

There's a tendency when you've worked for a long time in this business to be jaded and to think that it goes to … that nominations and the like goes to the most popular, the person who hustles the most for that kind of attention. In fact, as evidenced by my nomination, it came from the success of the show, the success of the writing and the work that Ryan Murphy had done to bring this character to life.

AE: What did being nominated mean for you personally?
MO: I think that being nominated – and this is for anybody who's been working for a long time in this business – it's kind of the icing on top of the cake. It's an icing of validation from your peers, which ultimately is one of the most important things as an actor. People in your own industry saying that the work that you're doing is worthy of attention.