One of the barriers to people coming out in Hollywood has been the fear (mainly felt by paranoid producers) that if viewers know an actor is gay, they won’t accept them in straight roles. While many have suggested this isn’t true, the fear of it has been a barrier to both people coming out and gay people getting straight parts (indeed I’ve spoken to actors who’ve had roles withdrawn when they refused to go into the closet).
Now researchers from South Carolina’s Clemson University having been looking at this question, to see whether viewers really do care about the sexuality of an actor on screen. The study, published in the journal Psychology of Popular Media Culture, suggests an actor coming out has no measurable effect on how they are accepted by audiences.
400 college students participated in the study, which involved them answering questions about a male actor’s fictional Facebook page. The page gave them a photograph and basic information, including sexual orientation. They then watched a video of the actor’s performance, before rating the performance and their likelihood of casting the actor if they were putting together a production.
Paul Merritt, a professor in the psychology department at Clemson University commented, “Early research showed that people tend to perceive a direct connection between sexual orientation and established gender roles, especially in the entertainment industry.”
“However, these new findings indicate that knowledge of an actor’s sexual orientation doesn’t necessarily cause their performance to be perceived in light of stereotypes about gays and lesbians.”
While some may suggest the fact the study only included college students may have biased its findings in favour of the sort of people who wouldn’t care about sexuality, it is suggestive that the fears of Hollywood may be unfounded.
Those fears and feelings do exist though, whether valid or not. Rupert Everett has said several times he would advise any actor wanting a major career in America not to come out, as it limits their options. Bret Easton Ellis (who is gay himself) meanwhile sparked controversy last year by saying Matt Bomer was ‘too gay’ to play Christian Grey in the film version of Fifty Shades Of Grey.
There was also anger at Newsweek magazine writer Ramin Setoodeh’s 2010 article ‘Straight Jacket’, which suggested that once people knew an actor was gay, perceptions of their performance changed, and that if they played straight, it felt like they were hiding something. (Once again, Setoodeh is gay).
However as Zachary Quinto acknowledged just last week, he’s ‘only worked more’ since coming out.
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