Billy Crystal “clarifies” gay sex scenes comments

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Billy Crystal

Billy Crystal

Actor and comedian Billy Crystal has tried to backtrack on his comments that he doesn’t want gay sex scenes on television to be “shoved” in his face.

The 66-year-old star is credited with playing one of the first recurring gay characters on American television in the sitcom Soap, which ran from 1977 to 1981.

On Sunday, he was asked about playing the role at a panel discussion to promote his new show, The Comedians.

Crystal replied that it was “awkward” and “tough” to be breaking new ground at the time, and revealed that the live studio audience would sometimes “laugh nervously” during some of his scenes.

He went on to talk about more recent shows that feature gay characters and how things have changed.

“I’ve seen some stuff recently on TV in different kinds of shows where the language or the explicit sex is really you know, sometimes I get it, and sometimes I just feel like, ‘Ah, that’s too much for me.'”

He added: “And now it’s just I see it and I just hope people don’t abuse it and shove it in our face, well, that sounds terrible, to the point of it just feels like an everyday kind of thing.”

His comments were seen as being homophobic by some media outlets.

The star has now responded to the criticism, insisting that his words were taken out of context and that he wasn’t intending to be discriminatory.

“What I meant was that whenever sex or graphic nudity of any kind (gay or straight) is gratuitous to the plot or story it becomes a little too much for my taste,” he said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.

Crystal is best-known for his roles in films like When Harry Met Sally (1989), City Slickers (1991), and Analyze This (1999). He has hosted the Academy Awards nine times, most recently in 2012.

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