Sometimes actors say things in interviews they probably don’t think a lot about, but which turns out far more controversial than they expected. That seems to be true of Russell Tovey, who in trying to explain how he turned out the way he did, managed to piss off a lot of people who feel he was denigrating effeminate gay men.
Talking to The Guardian about his new TV series, Banished, he said, “I feel like I could have been really effeminate, if I hadn’t gone to the school I went to. Where I felt like I had to toughen up. If I’d have been able to relax, prance around, sing in the street, I might be a different person now. I thank my dad for that, for not allowing me to go down that path.”
I’d be willing to bet what he was trying to say is he’s grateful for who he is now and the career it’s allowed him to have, but thanking someone for ‘not allowing me to go down that path’ of being effeminate does sound pretty bad.
His comments were linked to his thoughts about how rare it is for an out gay man to be able to play gay and straight characters, saying, “Because it’s probably given me the unique quality that people think I have. I get told, a lot, that I’m kind of carving my own path. That there are not many actors who are out and are able to play straight, and gay, and everyone’s OK with it.”
So is Tovey expressing internalised homophobia, or did he just make his point really badly? You decide.
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