You may remember that actor Richard Chamberlain recently made some comments about gay actors, saying that it would only help their chances of getting casted in leading roles if they stayed in the closet. It was a rude and ignorant statement that was clearly driven by the actor’s irrational fear of becoming irrelevant because of his sexuality. Now Max Mutchnick, a co-creator of Will & Grace, has made a statement in the most recent issue of Entertainment Weekly saying that pretty much everything Chamberlain said is true… if you can’t act for shit.

Mutchnick said:

“I don’t think the audience is as homophobic as the media would have us believe. Neither is Hollywood. I’ve never denied an actor a job because he was gay, but I have denied actors jobs because they suck.”

“There is no blacklist that forbids gay actors from playing straight roles. Convince us you’re in love with her and we’ll hire you. And I promise we won’t care who you’re cuddling up with when you’re off camera.”

Amen!

Shaming gay actors into thinking they already have the odds stacked against them is straight-up wrong, not to mention a complete disservice to everyone on the planet. If good movies are getting made, you wont see anyone complaining about where the actors stick their dicks in their downtime.

I mean, did anyone, even for a second, ever question Doogie’s love for Wanda? I DON’T THINK SO.

“There’s still a tremendous amount of homophobia in our culture. For an actor to be working [at all] is a kind of miracle, because most actors aren’t. So it’s just silly for a working actor to say, ‘Oh, I don’t care if anybody knows I’m gay’ — especially if you’re a leading man. Personally, I wouldn’t advise a gay leading man-type actor to come out. Despite all the wonderful advances that have been made, it’s still dangerous for an actor to talk about that in our extremely misguided culture. Look at what happened in California with Proposition 8. Please, don’t pretend that we’re suddenly all wonderfully, blissfully accepted.”

- Richard Chamberlain, former heartthrob and, as of age 69, an openly gay actor, advising the gay youth in Hollywood to keep it to themselves.

I’m sort of intrinsically opposed to this sort of “keep your head down” advice.  There’s been a forward-moving energy about equality for a while now, and it’s not there yet, that’s obvious, but advising people to stay in the closet because they’re sure to be shunned? That seems a little counterintuitive to me.

What do you guys think?  We have strong feelings about this, right?  Let’s talk about them.