Neighbours star slammed for ‘straight acting’ comment
Image: Photo: Matt Wilson / Twitter.
狈贰滨骋贬叠翱鲍搁厂听actor Matt Wilson, who plays a gay character, has been criticised for his comments that his character 鈥渁cts straight and acts normal鈥�.
Wilson made the controversial remarks during a television appearance, has reported.
鈥淭here are a lot of people who think you should have a gay actor playing a gay character, but that鈥檚 like saying you should get someone in a wheelchair to play a character in a wheelchair,鈥� he said.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 important that we are expressing it. We specifically designed the character to act straight and act normal.
鈥淲hen I say 鈥榥ormal鈥�, I mean he鈥檚 not like the characters on Modern Family, where they are flamboyant and camp and they walk around tiptoeing.
鈥淭hat creates separation鈥攖hat鈥檚 us and them. It shouldn鈥檛 be like that. It should be all equal and no one should have a problem with that. The way other characters act around my character is that there is never a problem at all.鈥�
Social media users called out Wright on his comments.
鈥淕lad to know I鈥檓 not 鈥榥ormal鈥� because I鈥檓 effeminate,鈥� tweeted one person.
鈥淲e should all act normal and homophobia will stop,鈥� wrote another.
Wilson apologised on Twitter, writing, 鈥淐hoice of words wasn鈥檛 right and apologies if it comes across as offensive.
鈥淭he message I wanted to get across (and this is in support of one of my friends as he is having issues coming out) that he sick and tired of people assuming that because his sexuality is different to the guy next to him that they 鈥榚xpected him to act different鈥�. This isn鈥檛 the case, and shouldn鈥檛 be preached on TV.
鈥淥nce again鈥攁pologies for offending you, I trust you can see through this and we are promoting the same message.鈥�
Gay people come in all types and anyone is welcome to play whatever character is required by the TV series, movie, play or whatever. What isn’t nice is to generalise about all gay people or assume that an effeminate gay person isn’t “normal” or acceptable.
It is time to ban stupid celebrities from opening their fat mouth, on subjects they have no idea about! I am a butch cisgender gay men and we should have respect and dignity to effeminate men of any sexual orientation, HIV status or gender identity as well! I in the past worked with a effeminate straight man and boy was he did his 10 hour job more efficiently run than me working within the NSW Government. People made jokes about him behind his back, but I always had his back! The very people that made fun of him had big skellitons in their closet! I have a saying: “Stereotypes and bigotry kill performance and productivity, but inclusiveness and openness empowers productivity and performance!”
Oh FFS! The gay community is way too precious sometimes. Get over it, there are all types in our community. Flamboyant gays are portrayed all the time on TV, it’s nice to have a “normal” gay character. Yes normal, not flamboyant, not transgender, not a drag queen just a normal suburban homo.
I don’t mind straight actors playing gay or cis actors playing trans or able-bodied actors playing disabled, but I do mind people playing those roles who seem to lack any empathy for the experience of those characters in the real world.