While Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers‘s Red Ranger (Austin St. John) might’ve done porn for a certain amateur website (as Sean), we learned this week Blue ranger, played by the now openly gay David Yost, quit the show over rampant homophobia. But what’s this about Yost being a “pain in the ass” and there being no anti-gay atmosphere on set?
Scott Page-Pagter, a producer of some 450 MMPR episodes, says (to a website we don’t link to) of Yost, “I don’t know why he’s saying this, but he was the only one no one got along with … he was a pain in the ass.” Yost “and two of the other actors were all getting a bonus on top of their salary. When the other two left the show, production wanted to stop giving him the bonus, and that’s ultimately what led to his departure from the show.”
Could money have also been a factor? Sure! We all know our souls — and tolerance for anti-gay environments — all have a price tag. Or maybe straight guys like Page-Pagter, who aren’t victims of anti-gay abuse, just fail to see what all the furor is about because they’re not the victim. So many plausible scenarios, I might need Yellow Ranger’s help in figuring this one out.
Michael
“Might’ve done porn?” You link to your own 2006 story that he did do porn, so what to make of this? Why are you choosing not to link to the producer’s site? Disputes always have at least two sides, and I wouldn’t mind having an objective look at what Scott Page-Pagter has to say about the matter.
VagrantMan
“to a website we don’t link to”….
Get off your high horse, the site was TMZ.com. 90% of the stuff you link your users to is crap anyway (ie davey wavey).
Hilarious
None of this proves he didn’t experience homophobia on set which I’m thinking given the time the show was made he probably did. He very well could have left over monetary issues, but that doesn’t excuse homophobic bullying from OTHERS(as in plenty of people on the set could’ve been harassing him, not the person writing his check) on the set.
That said Queerty do you ever fact check anything? Austin St. John got very fat soon after leaving the show. He’s hardly recognizable. The guy doing porn is not him.
And the actress who played the “Yellow Ranger” died in a tragic car accident so…poor choice of words to end the article.
Edgrr
Umm… the Yellow Ranger is dead.
Toby
I’m having a hard time believing David Yost story.
SpireaX
Alas, I knew it was too good to be true. Take a gander at this link for what looks like the real “Austin St. John” of MMPR fame. He’s kind of let himself go but as long he’s happy: http://closetcaseblog.wordpress.com/2010/04/02/what-ever-happened-to-the-red-ranger/
Marcus M.
Yeah, I was going to say that the Yellow Ranger died too:( I was obsessed with this show when I was a kid and Trini was always my favorite. I remember being super pissed that the only place you could get t-shirts with the Yellow Ranger on it were in the girl’s department.
Kev C
Calling someone a “pain in the ass” is a common euphemism for homosexual. A substitute word used by homophobes such as Scott Pagter.
Michael
@Kev C: “Homosexual” = “Pain in the ass”…since when? That’s a new one to me.
Kev C
@Michael: I’ve heard it used as code for gay, seriously.
Coqui
DAMN! They told me that sexy White Ranger was gay back when I was in high school… kids are so fucking stupid. Oh well…
that Red Ranger was SEXY AS HELL back in ’06:
http://www.queerclick.com/archive/2006/01/blowing_brock_a_1.html
adman
@Michael: Ever since you were little, sheesh, probably before. But then you know you’re a sucker.
Shaded Spriter
Yost being hard to work with has been the running rumor in fandom for years. I tend to go on the opinion that both sides of the story is true. there was most likely some homophobic problems behind the scenes and the other actors brushed them off and forgot about them because it didn’t actually hurt them and Yost was likely stressed and irritable because of this causing him to be hard to work with.
Nick Farben
Although I can’t discount it entirely, I find David Yost’s side of the story to be a little shaky. It sounds heavily embellished, and here’s why:
1. He’s got a new movie coming out. All these ‘startling revelations’ that come out on the E-channel, just as a z-lister is trying to make a comeback, should be taken with a truckload of salt.
2. It’s very rare that you hear reports about stars of shows being bullied on-set for being gay. Homophobia in Hollywood has long been about keeping the stars in the closet, not about abusing them on set until they quit. Hollywood is especially renown for having a disproportionately high gay employment rate in all facets from agents, to writers, to costume designers, to hair and make-up. Even if the homophobia did exist on the set, money and screen-time are probably much more likely to be the cause of Hollywood contract disputes than homophobia.
3. Yost’s revelation that the producers interviewed fellow cast-mates about his sexuality is not surprising. They probably asked him directly, and he must have denied it. They probably wanted to know for sure since it could hurt their bottomline. But he was in the closet (apparent from his revelation that he tried to pray the gay away, if indeed that was true) and so they had to ask around among the cast. Whilst it is regrettable, it was the 90’s and many contracts had gag-orders in them. Still, it doesn’t implicate them as bullies on-set. Just paranoid busybodies trying to run a kids program in the 90’s.
4. As some other blogs have pointed out, Yost was actually asked several times to come back and rehash his role for later seasons and specials. If they were bullying him for being a ‘faggot’, then why would they ask him to come back again and again? They even did a tribute to him after he left. (Although, why would they do a tribute if he was a pain in the ass? Who knows. Probably as ratings gimmicks.)
5. The point where he ‘walked off’ was while they were shooting the MMPR Movie. They rewrote him out of the story and reshoot many scenes mid-production. I don’t think producers would try to push a key actor out halfway through shooting a movie. Budget and production times would have ballooned, etc.
6. In the final season he was in, he was for the most part the only original member of the cast left. Facing dwindling ratings, they revamped the show with a new set of power rangers and relegated him to being a minor role of mentoring the newbies. Even in his minor role, he was probably still under his old contract, bonuses et al. It’s probably true that they didn’t want to pay him as much, while he probably wanted more money (being the only cast member with pre-existing fans). Just another story of a young actor, fuelled by by his agent’s praise, thinking he was worth more he was. Producers finished the season and chose not to renew his contract for the new season (probably why he walked off the movie).
P.S.
Austin St. John “might’ve done porn”? Really Queerty? You say it like this rumour hasn’t been debunked a long time ago. Austin St. John is NOT Brock from Sean Cody… just Google an image of Austin St. John giving a talk at any geek convention and you’ll see that he is NOT a muscular man. Linking to your own blog post from years ago as citation is just bad reporting.
Cam
So after all of the eveidence that homophobia is rampant in Hollywood, we’re supposed to believe that there was no homophobia on the set? Yeah, sure.
DillonS
So you read a certain site, use it for fodder for this site, but then don’t give said site any credit? And then announce the fact? Do children run Queerty?