POWER RANGER COMES OUT

One of the actors in the children’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers television series has come out as gay, saying that he left the show because of homophobic harassment.

“I was called ‘faggot’ one too many times [by the show’s] creators, producers, writers, directors,” said David Yost, now 41, who played Billy Cranston – the blue power ranger – in the first four seasons of the series, and a Power Rangers feature film, from 1993 to 1996.

It had been previously reported that he left the show because of a pay dispute.

“Continuing to work in an environment like that is really difficult, said Yost in a video interview posted on YouTube by No Pink Spandex. “I myself was struggling with who I was, or what I was, and to be made fun of on some level, or to be stereotyped, or put into a category … I was continually being told I’m not worthy of where I am because I’m quote-unquote a gay person and I’m not supposed to be an actor and can’t be a superhero.”

He added: “I know that my co-stars were called in a couple of times to different producers’ offices and questioned about my sexuality, which is kind of a humiliating experience to find that out.”

Yost said that after he left the show he struggled with his sexuality for a number of years and even had a nervous breakdown.