We’ve reached an interesting place in pop culture, where a celebrity coming-out no longer rates the cover of People magazine or a Barbara Walters’ sit-down. Jim Parsons just came out in the third paragraph of a story about his new Broadway show, Harvey.
We still can’t tell if Matt Bomer ever actually came out or not.
Now, Andrew Rannells—Tony-nominated star of Book of Mormon and a cast member on the upcoming expectant-gay-dads sitcom The New Normal— came out during an interview in Vulture
Discussing his role in HBO’s Girls as Elijah, Hannah’s gay ex-boyfriend, Rannells said:
I am gay in real life, so I definitely get it. But it’s not my story —I wasn’t closeted for any amount of time. I never had a girlfriend who I had that experience with. It’s less that Elijah knew he was gay and continued to date Hannah anyway and more that he wasn’t ready to admit to himself that he was gay. I think that’s probably the more common thing, particularly with young homosexuals.
Coming out can be super super complicated, especially when it comes to families and friends —and if you already have a girlfriend, what does that mean for her? I hope that changes over time, but coming out is very personal and everybody obviously has to do it in their own time.
We didn’t even think Rannells was actually making a confession—just, y’know, stating a fact—until the news went round the blogosphere.
All hail the rise of the anti-coming-out!
It certainly doesn’t seem like Rannells’ speaking frankly about his orientation has hindered his career: Just off a Broadway show and already lined up an critically acclaimed series and a network sitcom? Not too shabby!
Of course, almost all his roles involve playing gay men. Is he being typecast? Does it even matter? At least there are more gay roles for guys like Rannells to take. And he says he feels a certain obligation to do them well. He says he realizes The New Normal is “sort of a new idea for a lot of viewers and Americans, to see Justin Bartha and I play this very much in love couple who just wants to have a baby. We’re telling that story for the first time, in a way, for a lot of people. for a lot of people, so I think there’s a lot of responsibility there.”
Well don’t try too hard to be well-intentioned, Andrew—we want Modern Family, not It’s All Relative.
Photo: Robert Trachtenberg/NBC
Joseph
“We stiil can’t tell if Bomer came out…” — only if you are just plain stupid, have no Internet connection, or are illiterate I guess….
a
matt even mentioned simon in a magazine, by name, talking about his partner reaction to magic mike…
Eric
Yeah, The EW mag article with Tatum on the cover. surprised Queerty and everyone else missed that one.
Shorty
Say what?!? An actor in Broadway musicals is GAY?!? Wow, this IS news.
Alan brickman
A Drama Queen always thinks nobody knows they’re gay until they out themselves…very controlling…very Sean Hayes…
mc
What more does Matt Bomer have to do to convince Queerty he’s out, a front page ad, a billboard, what ???
From EW article: “Entertainment Weekly: You all show a lot of skin in this movie. What did you significant others think of that?
Matt Bomer: Simon was totally cool with it. He’s totally supportive of me as an artist. He’s like, “Go do your thing, and let me know how it goes when you get back home.”
LR
Dear Queerty:
Please hire me as a proofreader for your site. I may be blind, I may have no hands, I may not speak or read English very well, but I am convinced I would still do a far superior job than your own authors and editors.
Sincerely,
Literate Reader
Chris
A continuation on the Dan Avery/Matt Bomer issues. It seems like Dan can’t find enough ways to criticize Bomer, so he has to work references to him into articles that have NOTHING to do with him.
In what universe didn’t Bomer come out..you have been flogging this dead horse for weeks if not months..time to put it out of it’s misery. There is no way you are going to convince an audience that Matt Bomer is still closeted, when he introduces his family, and talks about Simon as his significant other.
I guess Dan wanted the cover of people with the giant “Yep, I’m Gay”. Firstly, Matt Bomer is a regular in a series for basic cable TV, and this is his first movie, he doesn’t rate the cover of people. And secondly, he was never really in the closet, He showed up at premieres with his boyfriend, referred to Simon’s kids as his own, it just wasn’t some momentous announcement, just business as usual.
The point of this being…Queerty and Dan Avery, get over your obsession with Matt Bomer, or at least stop inserting your dislike for him into articles that have nothing to do with him.
Secondly, for all the is good in the world, PLEASE hire an editor, someone with basic grammar and spelling skills.
Dave
What’s with queerty’s obsession with Matt Bomer and claiming how he’s still closeted and not out? He’s been out for awhile and even this site ran articles about it. I agree with LR queerty’s articles need to be proofread and checked more before they’re put on this site.
Chris
@Alan brickman: Thats very true. Once upon a time, years ago in NYC, I was introduced to an actor who had become famous for a comedy movie where he did a lot of drag and appearing in musicals, he proceeded to tell me how dangerous it was for him to be in a gay bar, because no one knew he was gay. I had to excuse myself, I couldn’t stop laughing.
Dave
Chris-Who was he?
Hyhybt
@Chris:Put that way it sounds silly, but there’s probably a bit of truth in it. Many who can’t stand gay people will, so long as there’s the tiniest veneer of deniability, convince themselves that those they do like aren’t gay. And with that kind, if they *do* realize it, chances are they’ll quit liking you rather than reconsider their views.
Grandma (and countless other women of her time) was like that with Liberace, for instance.
Bryan
I didn’t even know who Andrew Rannells was, *shrug*
M
Queerty: Please understand that Matt Bomer is OUT. Franco isn’t out. Cooper isn’t out. Focus on that if you’d like.
jack jett
gay or super gay…he was awesome in book of mormon.
he was so convincing as a mormon that i wanted to spank his white ass.
Bill
I agree with M. WHy doesn’t queerty focus on how Franco is bisexual and closeted? Or how Cooper is a closet queen?
RedRoseQueen1
@Chris: Oh please tell me it was Nathan Lane so at least I can die LAUGHING! Hahaha!
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
dear gay thesps,
oh luvies, being typecast as gay ain’t such a disastrous thing. we just need MORE gay types to be represented other than ya sassy femmes (though we do love you, too) or impossibly saintly but neutered gay roles.
we need to see the full gamut. we want to see tough ass gays and flamers and everything in between.
and frankly, as a corrective to those omnipresent family-friendly bambi gays (admirable as they are) it would be delicious to see a nasty unsympathetic villainous homo once more (only this time on our own terms!)
even if you had to play it gay all your damn career, there’s endless scope for artistic development with infinite character psychological permutations (eh?!). or something.
how about a kitten murdering, milf fucking, knife-wielding, corpse fucker.
see. endless. fucking. possibilities \o/
RedRoseQueen1
THIS is the funniest video on YouTube, imo.And soooooo true, LOL!
http://youtu.be/0JVVOPJLsLA
Jeff
@Joseph: He came out last year!
Daez
@Chris: “Secondly, for all the is good in the world, PLEASE hire an editor, someone with basic grammar and spelling skills.”
I think this sentence is very telling. 🙂
LadyL
Sorry to be among those flogging the horse but (since he’s being discussed here anyway) the reason the debate about Matt Bomer continues is because of the way he is coming out, if out is what he is. I saw the clip of his award acceptance speech in Palm Springs where Bomer mentioned Simon Halls but I missed the EW article in which he acknowledged Halls again, this time with much less ambiguity. EW is a popular entertainment magazine but not everyone everywhere reads it. And that’s entirely my point.
*
What we’re looking at here is a kind of non-closet closet, where gay celebs like Bomer are trying to figure out how to come out as quietly as possible, attracting as little attention as possible. Bomer has explained his previous silence by reminding his interviewers that he has a hit series riding on his shoulders. Obviously he (and his partner-publicist Halls and the producers of “White Collar”) have been and probably still are concerned about negative fall-out from audiences that won’t accept an openly gay actor playing a sexy straight character.
*
At the same time, Matt Bomer has to live with himself and does not want to live his life in hiding. The answer seems to be a compromise: to acknowledge his orientation in some media while avoiding the subject in others. Has anyone here seen a duplication of that EW interview on broadcast TV? What I’ll be curious to see is what happens when “Magic Mike” is released at the end of this month and “White Collar” begins its new season. Matt surely will be making appearances on shows like “Today” and “GMA” and “ET” and the like to promote these things. What kind of questions will he be asked then and how honestly will he answer?
mc
@LadyL: This sounds a little bit like how Birthers act: Well he showed his short form birth certificate but that’s not good enough. Well he had a birth announcement in Hawaii papers—well that means nothing. When he showed his long form birth certificate–well that was fake. Nothing is good enough if you don’t want to believe something.
Bomer came out, acknowledges his partner, his family & has pictures of him & Simon. But that’s not good enough. Every gossip site, People mag, Huffington Post, Gay press & every news outlets ran the headlines Matt Bomer came out, something he’s not denied. Yet this didn’t apparently reach enough people for you.
He mentions Simon in a large publication like EW while promoting a movie he is in so ANY fan who was interested in him could read about this but still somehow he’s hiding this info from his fans. This makes no sense whatsoever. You need a TV interview? I’m sure if he did one, you’d say it doesn’t count because the show wasn’t seen by ‘Everyone.’
If Bomer wanted to remain in the closet he would have shut that door like Queen Latifah is trying to do when she was asked if she came out at Pride and she responded: “That definitely wasn’t the case,” she tells EW. “I’ve never dealt with the question of my personal life in public. It’s just not gonna happen.”
Hyhybt
@LadyL: A man who talks about his boyfriend in interviews is out. And as the opening to this very article points out, it’s noy big enough news anymore to warrant more. So why should there BE more?
K
@mc: Exactly. They posed for pictures together as a couple when Simon won an (lgbt related) award recently and loads of sites ran these. There were pictures of them together with their eldest son at the Revlon Run/Walk a few weeks ago that were posted everywhere, too. And also, the EW interview where he talks about Simon.
It’s funny how Queerty didn’t run any of these stories, isn’t it? Gives them an excuse to constantly berate him and pretend he’s hiding, I suppose.
And he answered a question on his coming out on the red carpet of the Prop 8 play reading in LA. “I thanked my family, like anybody would. So I’m glad if it helped anybody along their path.”
On why he got involved with the play: “Aside for obvious personal reasons, it’s the last real civil rights movement.”
http://uninhabited-paradise.tumblr.com/post/18723411998/matt-bomer-i-thanked-my-family-like-anybody
B
It is not necessary to stand on a rooftop and scream “I’m gay” when people can see you walking down the street holding hands with your boyfriend/husband/partner. There are plenty of straight actors who don’t publicize their girlfriends/wives because the general public does not care about their personal lives. Why should gay actors in similar situations act any different?
LadyL
@mc: The birther comparison doesn’t apply. At all. In that instance, you’re talking about racism by proxy, in which the legitimacy of Barack Obama’s presidency is being challenged by people who can’t understand how a black man made it to the Oval Office and are using the birth certificate issue to camouflage their resentment and their motives.
*
I have no ulterior motive regarding the celebrity closet; unlike the birthers it’s not my intention to undermine Matt Bomer or Jim Parsons or even Queen Latifah or Anderson Cooper. I’m not trying to damage anyone’s career or pull them down. The point I’ve been trying to make is about the curious, evolving nature of the closet as it continues to exist in popular culture, and the challenge coming out represents for people like Bomer, who has seemed to me at least to be trying to walk a line. They want to be out (or at least not seen to be dissembling and hiding, which is now understood to be seriously uncool) but not so out that it means unpleasant consequences for the careers they’re trying to build. The strategy seems to be if they don’t treat it like it’s a big deal maybe no one else will either. But it is a big deal. We’re in a transitional period here and things are changing fast–but not that fast, and not for everyone. Depending upon who you are and where you live and work, this is either the best of times or the worst of times to be gay.
*
@B: I get it that LGBT celebs are not obligated to come out, or shout it from the rooftops if and when they do. On the other hand, what’s so wrong with coming out in a more public, People magazine sort of way? What’s so terrible about them being more visible, or wishing them to be? Not everyone has the luck of living in NY or LA or wherever same-gender public displays of affection are a common and accepted occurence. As to actors (and pop and hip hop stars) and the coverage of their love lives, well, you’re right–it shouldn’t be different for them. But clearly it is or so many of them wouldn’t still be dodging the questions. If they’re young and hot the public cares very much about who they’re dating and the press damn well knows it and reports accordingly, relentlessly. Straight stars have always had options in this: they could feed the curiosity or decline to comment for whatever their reasons.
*
Maybe this is a generational thing, my memories of a lonely 14 year old convinced that no one else had these scary new feelings and wishing she knew somebody–lots of somebodies–who did. I don’t know how old you are, but I’m now in my mid-fifties (and black). To me, coming out was and still is a big deal because of the sheer guts it takes in the face of the opposition you might encounter over and over again. The disapproval. The exclusion. The “discomfort” your presence causes, and the ugly, in-your-face challenges to your right to be here. Some of you may be “over” the whole coming out thing, both for yourselves and for celebrities, but I assure you there are, right now, 14 year olds who live a very different reality. They need the Bomers and Parsons (and Latifahs and Coopers) as out and proud as it’s possible to be.
tkr
No one here on this or any blog has the power to damage anyones career, if you think you do, you are truly delusional. BTW, Matt Bomer is the perfect role model and owes us nothing, nor does any other entertainer or journalist or lawyer or garbage collector other than to do their jobs well and be a law abiding citizen.
d
From every single thing I’ve ever seen, heard, or read about Mr. Bomer, he is an incredible human being, role model, professional, partner, and parent (and has never in any single instance done anything to deserve to be bullied like DA has done here for months).
It’s pretty obvious that Dan Avery won’t ever get over Matt Bomer. Man, just admit you are wrong and move on, okay?
"Husband Simon Halls"
Wow, it’s incredible how Queerty has ignored Matt recently. Not only the EW magazine, but so many other great articles, for example this one:
“Our oldest has a fascination with ties,” Bomer says. “We’ll be going to a family dinner and he’ll come downstairs in a pair of shorts, a T-shirt, and a blue blazer with a tie. We let him rock that.” He and husband Simon Halls, a Hollywood publicist who counts Tom Ford among his clientele, are the parents to three: a seven-year-old and four-year-old twins. (What’s that like? “Busy,” he says. “With three boys, you’re constantly running around.”)
http://www.parkandbond.com/the-intersection/men-of-style/nyc-stylish-dads-matt-bomer
other half
@“Husband Simon Halls”: Because Queerty is humiliated that none of the constant BS Matt posts worked before he came out. He came out on his own terms and they can’t stand it.
SG
Wow. Frankly anyone saying that at this stage that Matt Bomer isn’t out has some serious issues, either of the reading comprehension variety, or the mental health variety.
…but I missed the EW article in which he acknowledged Halls again, this time with much less ambiguity. EW is a popular entertainment magazine but not everyone everywhere reads it. And that’s entirely my point.
This is so far beyond ridiculous it almost defies belief. EW is a mainstream entertainment magazine (and his statement about Simon was in the PRINT edition, not ‘hidden’ on the internet). So what if he talked about Simon in People mag or the New York Times? Not “everyone everywhere” reads those, either?
As far as I can tell, people accusing him of not being out at this point would only be happy if he was entirely defined by being a gay man, and was making it his personal mission to talk ONLY about being a gay man to every media outlet that would listen from now until everyone on the planet signs a statement to the effect that, yes, they are personally aware Matt Bomer is gay. Fortunately most of us aren’t stupid enough to consider this either possible or a desirable state of affairs. Matt has the right to be defined by his talent and who he is as a person, not by his sexual orientation.