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“I've dated men. I've dated women... I don't know why anyone would care. I'm an actor and I play roles. To be honest, I don't know what to say—I find your question intrusive.”
Well that's Lee Pace sort of coming out in the pages of W Magazine in possibly the most hostile fashion I've ever seen anyone sort of come out in awhile. (Scratch that - there's always his Hobbit co-star Luke Evans, I guess.) Lee, I love you, I have been following your career for fourteen years ever since Wonderfalls, so please, please, from a longtime fan, you got to do this shit better. You're the one sitting down for a barn-side chat to discuss a Pulitzer-Prize-winning piece of Gay History - I can go spend my time reading an interview with Tony Kushner if you don't have anything to say. And don't snap at me, asshole. Nobody dragged you into the pages of W Magazine by your hair. I suppose you can channel some of that self-loathing into your Joe Pitt though - good luck with that.
20 comments:
Beautifully said. The internalised homophobia in his reaction is just saddening.
So let's ridicule him because he could have been oh so suave, but he was clumsy with his words instead. I guess he can't please people, no matter what he says or does. And we wonder why gay actors are bearding and are reluctant to come out...
What if he is actually bi or pan, though? And is still wrestling with his own label. Fans think he was actually dating a woman last year..
If he didn't expect to be asked to talk about Gayness while taking a role in ANGELS IN AMERICA in 2018 then maybe he shouldn't have taken the role.
Hmm that's too bad. But I forgive him, and still love him!
I mean I get it. As a prominent Hollywood actor, you either have to actively shield yourself, or make up a fake public life to fulfill the intrusive inquiries you get as a public person. Though it comes hand in hand for prominent actors, I don't think any of them went to drama school with the dream of having every aspect of their lives in gossip magazines and TV. They all want to lose themselves in their work, not have to expose all of themselves to the public. Irony, huh?
That said, there is a certain responsibility for actors who happen to be gay to at least not shame the idea of being gay. I think that's where he failed here. I love me some Lee. And I hope he'll think better of how to talk about his personal life here so that it's clear it's private rather than secret, personal rather than shameful.
I think the main thing I take away from this is he came out and acknowledged to a certain extent that he is gay/bisexual. This may have been a rough way to go about it, but so is coming out, and most people who do come out can acknowledge that it happens slowly and in stages and increments. And while I certainly admire those celebrities who come out because they felt a need to represent the LGBTQ community, or even those celebrities who come out with a certain insouciance, Lee Pace's reaction is probably closer to my coming out story, and I appreciate that. Give him time.
I mean, I can see where he's coming from but still, yikes.
It's like... does he have any comprehension of the world out there? It's still radical to be an actor and come out. It's still important for people to see out actors who are proud. It's incredibly privileged to think he shouldn't have to be bothered with this sort of stuff when his career is actively capitalising on queer art.
Sounds like he's just getting in character for upcoming Angels performance (or did he do it already?). Joe Pitt is the crucial asshole in the play, and shares the same kind of bewildered defensiveness. I had to look up Lee Pace just now to learn who he is as an actor and after reading the list of his credits, I'm still not sure. I saw him in a few episodes of Halt and Catch Fire, and he's adequate in it, though hardly complex enough to hold interest (though I understand those that find him really hot stayed with it). He's kind of in the same category of pretty boy actor, isn't he, as Armie Hammer, where their career sort of depends much more on their looks than their talent? Not surprising he's defensive about his sexuality when asked publicly.
A man decides not to label himself according to American Marxist social filters and get's bullied by you for it.
Stop the H8 dude.
Haters gonna hate.
I am not bullying Lee Pace for "not labeling" himself. And I do not hate Lee Pace. I expect better from him, is all. He is a 39 year old adult man who took a job in The Most Important Gay Play of All Time - he should be able to answer these answers without acting as if he has been slapped across the face. I take umbrage with his behavior, his attitude. These are hard times and he needs to do better, or get out of the way of people who are willing to do better.
Could you see how we put an unusual burden on actors though, probably more than any public individuals, to reveal and expose every aspect of their private lives?
Lee hasn't, to my knowledge, tried to benefit from exposing his private life, and especially not from his social/dating/sexual life. He's not being hypocritical. Why is it his obligation to be a role model when he's never sought to benefit from that kind of exposure?
We don't ask actors who play rapists to be vocal, active activists against rape. Just like we don't ask actors who play priests or rabbis to be vocal, active activists for religion.
I get that, I really do, but it only becomes a problem or an issue when it's a gay person, and that is FRUSTRATING. People only make these arguments at these times. Come in and yell at me when I mention Tom Hanks being married to Rita Wilson sometime and I promise I will try to be less utterly exhausted by all of this
Haha. I get it. I mean like call that asshole Aaron Carter out who's suddenly, very publicly gay or bisexual or whatever and all like "look at me, I'm relevant because I have sex with men...ish or something. But come to my concert and buy tickets."
Or Gus Kenworthy or Ken Gusworthy or whatever the hell his name is, call him out for all his ridiculously thirst trap posts on Instagram because we should give a care he takes his clothes off to entice gay men for his own publicity.
But regarding Lee, maybe give him a bit of a break if he's not trying to use his personal life to his public advantage. He only owes us doing the role well to make the message of the play as strong as possible. The rest of it maybe consider it icing on the cake?
Eyes rolling...
In 2018, actors know that the publicity tour is part of the deal. Period.
And it shouldn't come as a surprise to an actor starring in a production of a landmark play about gay people that a question about being gay in modern society would be asked of them during the publicity tour. I can understand not wanting to talk about your personal life when promoting a project, but COME ON. This question could not be more in line with the project at hand, and his (OR ANYONE ELSE'S) bristling at it as inappropriate is ridiculous.
A publicity tour is part of the deal, but it's primarily about the piece, no? Honestly, I don't think Lee has ever leveraged his personal life to the benefit of the work he's doing. I'm going to go look up some interviews and I'll get back to you if I'm wrong. But the press is amazingly intrusive into actor's lives that no other profession has to deal with. He's selling entertainment, not his personal life.
And why are we mad at Lee being perturbed and giving real answers to questions of his personal life when there are much more prominent actors that feed a constant stream of false information about their private "not gay" lives and take on gay roles? No one is upset about "heterosexual" Jake Gyllenhaal and Brokeback? "Happily married" Travolta and Hairspray? "Not bisexual" Jared Leto and Dallas Buyers Club? You're happier with a false narrative of heterosexuality than an honest but unsatisfying narrative of a gay actor trying to make it in Heteronormative Hollywood?
And I'm very invested in this conversation about public vs. private lives of actors. I called out Colton Haynes for specifically using his private life, before he came out, where he promoted a heteronormative life specifically for promotion. Totally not cool. But when he came out he was "so brave." Now he can't stop talking about how he was "forced" to date women, and all this other stuff about his personal life while he literally isn't acting now anymore.
Let's have some perspective on this issue, huh?
This older article explains a lot. https://www.buzzfeed.com/jarettwieselman/lee-pace-is-ready-for-the-spotlight-but-not-the-scrutiny
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