Paste-eating nerds everywhere are celebrating the fact that Breaking Bad‘s Bryan Cranston is set to star in the new (and much darker) reboot of the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, but one former cast member is far from pleased.
Related: Power Ranger David Yost: I Quit ‘Because I Was Called Faggot’ One Too Many Times’
David Yost, who played the role of Blue Power Ranger Billy, recently took to Twitter to call comments Cranston made seven years ago “not cool,” adding, “I’m not a fan of homophobes.” (The June 22 tweet has since been taken down.)
What’s all the upset about? Well, in 2009, Cranston was interviewed by IGN, discussing his past work as a voice actor for the series and having the Blue Ranger named after him.
In that interview, he cracked a joke about being named after the Blue Ranger, saying it was a “problem” because Billy was the “fey” one.
Related: The Power Rangers Backlash Against David Yost Begins
In the past, Yost has claimed he was harassed on set for being gay, and says he quit because he was called “faggot” one too many times. Nevertheless, we think he’s reading way too much into Cranston’s joke here. The actor has been a very vocal advocate for marriage equality, telling GLAAD that those who oppose same-sex marriage are “absurd” and must “end this silliness.”
Related: Red Power Ranger Bares All For Sean Cody
Here’s the section of the IGN interview that has Yost so upset:
Cranston: They actually named one of the Power Rangers after me.
Gilligan: Yeah?!
Cranston: The Blue Power Ranger’s last name is Cranston.
IGN: [Laughs] Wow, that’s pretty funny.
Gilligan: That’s an awesome story!
Cranston: He’s the fey one, that’s the problem.
Do you think too much is being made of Cranston’s quote? Weigh in in the comments below.
In the meantime, watch Cranston’s segment for HRC’s Americans For Marriage Equality:
tricky ricky
Bryan Cranston must be tar and feathered and pilloried for using the word fey!
FEY:
a. Overrefined, exaggerated, or affected: “She said the word in a deliberately fey and pretentious manner, striking a pose” (Jenefer Shute).
b. Effeminate: “a fey snap of the wrist” (Michael Eric Dyson).
2.
a. Having or displaying an otherworldly, magical, or fairylike aspect or quality: “She’s got that fey look as though she’s had breakfast with a leprechaun” (Dorothy Burnham).
b. Having visionary power; clairvoyant.
c. Appearing touched or crazy, as if under a spell.
3. Scots
a. Fated to die soon.
b. Full of the sense of approaching death.
dean089
A person can be a vocal advocate for marriage equality and still make insensitive comments about gay people. White men Cranston’s age were raised a certain way. It’s not easy to just slough all that off. Do we know for a fact that he never went back and apologized for that comment? Meanwhile, was Bryan Cranston the one saying “faggot” all the time? It seems like there’s a LOT more story than is being presented here.
tricky ricky
@tricky ricky: I think the blue ranger doth protest too much
nmharleyrider
Given his nelly skating routines on Malcom in the Middle, Cranston has no room to criticize
Hank
not everything is homophobia, but many celebrities are opportunistic using social causes to have a good image.
tham
How dare he use the word fey….before me.
bobbyjoe
If you have to go back seven years to find one word a person used, and that word is not commonly used as a gay slur and has multiple definitions, many simply meaning “strange” “weird” or “ethereal,” and the person using that word seven years ago has otherwise been a vocal advocate of LGBT rights, then that person is NOT a homophobe.
ErikO
This is not a homophobic comment and ‘fey’ is not a homophobic word.
balehead
Fey means more than Gay…quite the reach from “Serial Victim” Yost…
zaneymcbanes
I would assume Bryan Cranston has evolved in seven years since that interview, and that he spoke more out of carelessness than anything. But his comment was a direct attack on Yost, and Yost had to put up with an insane amount of BS on that show because of his sexuality. I probably wouldn’t let a comment like that go easily either.
cleverusername
I assume it’s out of carelessness as well, and not anything to assume he’s like a huge homophobe, but it was an ignorant homophobic comment from the depths of the psyche of someone who was raised in an era where “fey” like qualities being associated with your name were a “problem”
scotty
sorry but thats not a gay slur. at least in my eyes it isnt.
inbama
Tina Fey’s last name is a slur.
well, that explains creating that fey Kenneth Parcell character.
midknightryder13
I’m not certain how much weight to give any of this.
It was widely rumored that *something* was going on during “Power Rangers Zeo” which is why David Yost was never actually a Power Ranger in that series — including the rather lame reason given in the series for not giving Billy the Gold Ranger powers.
And while I like Bryan Cranston, how does he know Billy was named after him? For all we know someone was a fan of “The Shadow”.
But, to say that because of one word with multiple meanings — and remember at the start of MMPR, Billy *was* portrayed as something of a klutz who was lacking in social skills — Bryan Cranston’s entire character is called into question, I’m having problems with that.
nevereclipsed81
I’m going to not read too much into it and give Cranston a pass here.. But’s not the greatest thing to say. And I don’t think David Yost was reading too much into it, he actually is the blue power ranger, he can be pissed.
Pete
obviously David Yost is an ANTI-DENTITE!
charleyp_1999
Yost needs to get the Hell over it. He needs to release that pent up anger. And besides Whoopdi fricken doo.. Who the hell cares besides him to go drag sh!t out the past. He’s just a washed up actor who couldn’t hack it in the business because he was called “faggot” one too many times. Grow some skin David like the rest of us who have been called “faggots” and have lived through it.