I was just trying to be realistic in the fact that we live in America and being gay still isn’t accepted by all people for all the things.
So I think I got in a lot of trouble about the risks and the rewards. It was always going to be a reward for me in terms of what I was able to accomplish with it and what I wanted to do. But the risks were obviously in terms of other fans out there. I’ve got a big female [fan] base to a certain degree. Would some people not really want to see me in that role? With the Midwest where people watch TV, would they kind of reject me as an actor in that role? I think those were the risks I was talking about.
And it kind of played itself out and me being straight and not knowing that world entirely and then asked to represent that world. There’s a risk there because there’s going to be miscommunication. I don’t know that world as a gay guy or gay woman who’s grown up in that. You recognize the passion and what these people have gone through and what they’re fighting for, but it’s still not second nature to me. It’s still something that I have to put myself in someone else’s shoes for.
Everything I said in that interview I could have made it clearer and more eloquent. I’m not the most eloquent person in the world. I’m kind of a meat and potatoes type of guy. I hope people have enough common sense to figure out what kind of person I am and to give me the benefit of the doubt when it could go either way.”
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— Brendan Fehr, star of NBC’s The Night Shift, chatting with The Backlot to clarify controversial earlier comments that he’d struggled with the decision to play a gay character
Cam
It’s amazing that everybody in Hollywood seems to still be clinging to the old thinking that if you play gay you will alienate HUGE portions of the “Mid-West”.
1. Will and Grace was over a decade ago and had high ratings in the “Mid-West”.
2. Half of the “Mid-West” has legal gay marriage.
I think the most homophobic place left in the country (Outside Mississippi) is Hollywood.
Desert Boy
He talks too much. I can’t stand men who talk too too much.
justSomeGuyFromNJ
I really have no issue with what was said in this article.
sdmikaele
He’s digging the hole deeper …he should shut his hole , be grateful for a job, and stop worrying about his “female fanbase” being offended…he ain’t all that!!1 Gay boy LUKE MCFARLANE upstaged him in every scene they had together….this guy LOOKS weak and insecure, type casting, and he’s proven them right……END SCENE…
Ihadtosayit
Brendan I do love your handsome face and you are an average actor but at the end of the day you are a model turned actor…you have played gay/hustler/drug addict in a movie called Sugar…always keep in mind you decided to enter the magical world of Hollywood..it is place full of smoke and mirrors where you are discounted; you are revered and you are punished at the drop of a hat..
Brendan just do a good job and cash your checks so you can live your life that is what you have done in the past and as an actor that is what is called for you to continually if you want to be a part of Hollywood…
Sugar via Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_(2004_film)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvphgbGHFlM
Brendan Fehr – DKNY (Model) photoshoot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKQ30sOwWyA
Ihadtosayit
Sugar via Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_(2004_film)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvphgbGHFlM
Perfida Limpin
” I’m kind of a meat and potatoes type of guy”? The more he talks, the more he reveals his repressed homophobia. I still won’t bother to check out his show on NBC.
onenuthing
I have no problem with your opinion on talking gay roles being risky. But my problem is WHY DO YOU STILL TAKE THEM!?!?! Oh wait, I need the money….
robirob
Oh c’mon. Is it really necessary to do the whole ‘ooooh, am I not the greatest actor of all time for taking such a HUGE RISK?’ sing and dance in the year 2014?
And I don’t think he does himself any favor by claiming that some of his fans are homophobes from the fly-Over states. I would call that digging your hole even deeper, or becoming real good at deep throating your foot (in your mouth).
DarkZephyr
“It’s still something that I have to put myself in someone else’s shoes for”
Yes. It’s called acting.
Ihadtosayit
@onenuthing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8P80A8vy9I
Ihadtosayit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8P80A8vy9I
tdh1980
I love how actors play murderers, rapists, child abusers, wife beaters, and all other manner of unsavory characters, yet portraying a gay person is viewed as a huge risk. Have a seat, Ms. Fehr. In fact, have several.
Richard
The cast of “Roswell” is appearing more and more douchey and clueless every day.
lykeitiz
@Ihadtosayit: I saw this movie “Sugar”. Who does this liar think he is? Movies are like internet pictures…..they’re forever.
And @DarkZephyr: EXACTLY!!!
DuMaurier
@tdh1980: Since I agree with you, I’m pretty much playing devil’s advocate when I say the difference is, no one goes, “Well, if he plays a child abuser he must be one in real life!” But when a guy kisses another guy on screen there is NO shortage of people posting that only someone who’s at least a LITTLE bit gay could do that.
In fact, I’ve seen versions of that kind of comment right here at Queerty.
pscheck2
You know this is another example of a so-called str8 guy explaining away his penchant for playing a gay character in movie/tv! No doubt, in a year or two, he will come out of the closet and proclaim himself ‘gay and proud’, A most recent example of this is: Wentworth Miller. He denied, in the strongest terms, he was gay, but just came out, and now a proud gay boy! There have been others who, at first, denied they were gay, but later on, came out of the closet. (Oh, by the way, just because he might have a gf or married or engaged does not make him a certified str8 guy. I am gay and have had many gay friends who were married or had gf sometime in their lives because of social pressure or a desire to have a family and live a ‘normal’ life. So, if this guy claims, likewise, take it with a grain of salt –I know).
++
jasentylar
I saw Sugar also. I don’t know what he is talking about.
DickieJohnson
Oh, leave him alone. Obviously, the cute young man is “confused” about things, and will come out of it, in time. He looks like a bottom to me…
Billy Budd
He is as handsome as he is stupid. Very high levels of both.
tdh1980
@DuMaurier: I would proffer that people who think certain actors are gay are going to think that regardless. Case and point: Tom Cruise, who’s never played a gay role that I can recall in his entire career.
lykeitiz
@tdh1980: Tom Cruise was pretty gay in “Interview With The Vampire”, but admittedly, it doesn’t count, because straight people were too dim to pick up on it.