RUPERT EVERETT TO GAY ACTORS: STAY IN THE CLOSET
British actor Rupert Everett has once again advised gay actors trying to make it big in Hollywood to stay in the closet.
The 53-year-old star, who is best known for his roles as a gay man in My Best Friend’s Wedding and The Next Best Thing, spoke to Stephen Sackur on BBC’s Hardtalk about homophobia in the entertainment business.
Everett’s film career has been in decline in recent years, something which he has previously claimed is due to him being an openly-gay actor.
“One of the frustrating thing about a career in the cinema at the moment, in the current climate, is that straight men get every opportunity to play gay parts that they want and then win tons of awards for doing so, but the other way doesn’t really work out,” Everett told Sackur .
He went on to confirm that he still believes that gay actors who want to be really successful in Hollywood should not be open about their sexuality.
“I don’t think it works. The structure of the whole of Hollywood, and also [cinema] theatre owners, come into play a lot in America. The theatre-owning community is another fairly right-wing organisation.
“Also, since Reaganism, and actors began to asset-strip themselves, it became possibly worse for an actor to come out because now perfumes are involved, skin care lines are involved and that means shareholders [are involved]. The mainstream actor has had to become straighter, straighter and straighter,” Everett asserted.
In the interview, Everett – who briefly worked as a male prostitute – admitted that he was very promiscuous in his youth and noted that the launch of his career coincided with the emergence of Aids.
“When I look back on my twenties, most of it was lived with a real sense of terror [of Aids],” he said.
Everett added that at one point he was certain he had contracted HIV. “I really couldn’t imagine how I wouldn’t have,” he explained, adding that his promiscuity was possibly a reaction to his very conservative and religious upbringing.
Watch a clip of Everett’s Hardtalk interview below.
Rupert Everett is not a role model, if not for his grotesque plastic surgery, then for his internalised homophobia, and remarks about how he would have hated having 2 dads growing up. So what are the options? Better to be brought up by a single mom on crack and slave wages? He blames Hollywood for his lack of career, maybe he should blame it on the fact that he can’t act, his face is falling off, his best work was in the 80s, and he is just another aging queen terrified of getting older. Oh, and those jibes about Jennifer Aniston’s stale romcom career were rich, guess who cornered the market on gay best friends.
Why should a gay actor take up the fight for civil liberties even if he is famous? My thinking is that only if he wants to! Anyway, being in the closet would make a gay actor?s life an unhappy one, so that would the be the price that he would have to pay, but that is up to him to decide.
I tend to agree with him regarding not being open about one’s homosexuality if it will damage your career prospects. I think the great majority of gay men do hide their sexuality from most co-workers because of this. But to attribute his declining career to him being out is a bit of a long-shot: I don’t think he is THAT talented.
Sounds like a bitter queen to me. If ALL the gay celebrities and actors came out, maybe it wouldn’t be such a huge issue, because half of them are.
So how has being out damaged Zach Quinto’s career?
Ok I get it. Its a lot tougher if you’re openly gay and trying to cut it in hollywood. But like any fight for civil liberties, those on the front line have to suffer so that the future may be more accepting for those that come after. The first few actors or sportsmen or politicians or whatever that come out cause a stir then it becomes normal. Surely that’s a more rewarding legacy to leave the world than a fistful of dollars you may have made had you stayed in the closet? It really short sighted. And to say that others should not come out is just really going backwards. Yoh what message is it sending.
His professional woes have a lot more to do with his refusal to wear deodorant than his being gay.
In case you don’t believe that he doesn’t wear deodorant, read this => http://www.contactmusic.net/rupert-everett/news/everett-prefers-his-natural-scent