It’s been a week of maybe probably coming outs. First actor Kevin McHale. Then singer Harry Styles. And now actor Cory Michael Smith. Maybe. Probably.
In a new interview with The Daily Beast about his new film 1985, an AIDS drama which just premiered at SXSW Festival, Smith made some elusive yet not elusive comments regarding his sexuality.
The reveal comes in the middle of the article:
“There’s something special about telling a story that feels closer to home,” Smith, who identifies as queer, tells The Daily Beast. “I’m not exactly like The Riddler in real life.”
Did you catch that folks? The line about Smith “identifying as queer.”
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Related: Kevin McHale follows up that cryptic coming out post with even more cryptic shirtless post
As far as we know, this is the first time the 31-year-old actor has made any mention of being LGBTQ publicly.
Smith offered no other insight into his sexuality other than that, but he did go on to say that he thinks it’s “important” for filmmakers to “to look at the gay experience” and not just from a sad and negative place.
“I don’t ever want to insinuate or push that the queer experience is hindered with shame or darkness and depression,” he said.
Spoken like someone with an understanding of the “queer experience,” wouldn’t you say?
oaksong
Surprised? Not really.
Loki
I stopped watching Gotham midway through season 2. I think Smith’s Riddler was supposed to have this creepy obsessive crush on one his female co-workers. I never really bought it. It (and he) was weird.
cguzmannyc
Not surprised, especially when you’re in a room of people and “someone” happens to hook up with your best friend.
With that, though, good for coming out!!!! People stay closeted for fear of rejection of jobs, family, etc, so this is a brave move.
I do hope that he remains as successful as others that have come out.
I will admit, my favorite slap back at “the man” of TV and film, is an actor like Neil Patrick Harris, obv openly gay, and plays such the male chauvinist on, How I Met Your Mother…love it.
Loki
“Queer”… how trendy. Well, they’ve already got one GAY actor playing a Gotham villain (Robin Lord Taylor as “Penguin”). Guess Smith needs to differentiate himself somehow, make this more “special,” a bit of flair…
Donston
Every public figure that’s not 100%, completely and thoroughly inherently gay is not gonna come out as such. And that’s okay. I appreciate the nonchalant, self-confident, less sex focused and less self-interests driven outings that we’ve gotten from Smith and Mchale.
Ummmm Yeah
Shhhhh You can’t say gay or lesbian. Those are dirty words now. You are only allowed to be a formless blob of queer.
Loki
@Ummmm Yeah
Seriously, I’ve been told that “identifying” (I hate that term BTW) as GAY was being exclusionary. It’s LGBT or LGBTQ or “queer” now. Never mind that a gay man can’t SIMULTANEOUSLY also be lesbian woman (or can you? I mean “gender fluid” is “trending” now, too). And instead of clearly delineating some aspect about yourself, it actually INVITES further inquiry and speculation.
Some Brazilian politian was assasinated the other day. The headline described her(?) as LGBT. I mean, what am I suppose glean from that? Was she a lesbian? A “trans-gender”? It’s important because it goes to motive. In the end, I didn’t bother to click through and find out.
Cylest Brooks
I live in this really odd middle zone because of my age… I am the absolute oldest of the Millennials. I have friends who are much older and those who are much younger. I have watched our society shift so dramatically in my lifetime that the entire experience of being queer in America has evolved into something almost unrecognizable from what it was. Old Gay and Queer Youth are millions of miles apart, despite being separated by only one generation.
I will warn you in advance that I tend to lean to the youth perspective more often than not. Perhaps not so vehemently.
This is a really complex topic, and one that I think is really worth exploring more. But we can agree that we’re never going to get anywhere when you choose to engage with such open disdain for youth culture. Using quotation marks around the word transgender and saying that gender fluidity is “trending” are sure fire ways to shut down any conversation (and make you look silly, frankly).
Why set things up as us vs them? The Giant Thumb in the Sky that holds you down as a gay man is the same Giant Thumb in the Sky holding them down. The same rhetoric that was used on you is being used on them. That same fear of change that made people beat and murder us is what drives you to be dismissive and passive aggressive about today’s youth. It comes from the same place.
Instead of worrying about the specific gender construction of a politician who was assassinated, perhaps try talking to an actual Millennial. Try ‘punching up’ instead of ‘punching down’. Instead of pointing out all the ways we’re different from you, consider all the ways we’re the same. Just some ideas, since this comment is problematic af.
Loki
:/
I’m an Xennial; the same generational cohort as Lee Pace (someone who came out as “queer” just last week) AND Robin Lord Taylor (a man who readily admits he is GAY). Just a few years older than Smith here. This isn’t some generational divide. It’s a purposeful obfuscation being done by GAY MEN in the entertainment industry who want to maintain mainstream appeal (read: “appeal to heterosexual women”). It’s heterosexist and homophobic.
I’ve spoken to plenty of millennials, dearie. Most aren’t worth dealing with.
Loki
And you want to talk about “problematic”?? How about the trans-gender activists who are advocating that children as young as six years old be put on hormone blockers to prevent them from undergoing puberty and permanently stunting their sexual development in the process…
alfred
@Cylest Brooks, your profile pic ‘literally’ screams ‘millennial’ queer, you couldnt try harder with the blue hair and unironic ‘terf bangs’ lmao…sincerely a now out and proud gay millennial man who used to think he was a woke bi guy for years.
Donston
I’m in my late 20’s and I have mixed feelings on the way things are evolving.
Orientation can indeed be “complex”. From a romantic, sexual and emotional standpoint. So, getting overly caught up in identity is always the wrong way to approach it. I’m a homo-romantic gay-leaning pansexual, but I don’t care rather I’m referred to as gay or queer. However, I do think that if you’re looking to truly own your truth you need to actually own your truth. If you’re “mostly” into a certain type of person you shouldn’t go out of your way to try and distort that. And it does seem a decent amount of gay and gay-leaning people do go out of their way to distort that.
Greg
I identify as “Juicy Fruit”.
Greg
re: “I’m a homo-romantic gay-leaning pansexual, but I don’t care rather I’m referred to as gay or queer. ” So, you’re gay? Why the long explanation? If someone refers to you as gay, more than likely, or queer, take that as a clue. You don’t need all that “homo leaning gay pan romantic sexual” nonsense. It’s pretentious and most people don’t even know what the heck you’re talking about. If you told me you were that, I would tell you. Do you suck dick or not?
Pixie Dixon
If he did come out ,good for him. it’s a shame that once male actors come out Americans can’t see them as leading men in most instances and they are relegated to secondary roles.
Donston
That’s certainly what happened with Luke Evans who was billed as “the next big thing”. But he didn’t do himself any favors either.
Coreydnyc
He’s BEEN out no? Didn’t he address this when everyone made a stink about Him (The Riddler) and Penguin had that “implied” love affair in the show? I’m pretty sure your late on this one.
jcoberkrom
I’m so tired of “coming out” stories. Why do you assume everyone is straight!
Get over it!
Donston
This wasn’t even really coming out. He was expressing hus opinion on something and nonchalantly brought up his own orientation to further that opinion. It seems like people revealing themselves makes you very uncomfortable, which makes me sad for you. I’m sorry many people feel no need to stick to the “don’t ask, don’t tell” way of thinking any longer.
TopManVA
Yeah… 3 “probably” coming out stories? Sounds like reckless reporting to me!
Greg
I know what you mean. Coming out stories are like assholes. Everybody has one and everybody thinks their own is special.
dean089
Anyone who follows him on social media knows that he neither hides nor flaunts it, which is entirely his business. It’s a pity that the gay media treats it all in such a high school fashion.
Donston
There is no such thing as “gay media”, just gossip, agenda pushing and pornagraphic sites and rags. And most of these things are owned by the same couple companies.
Hotflesh
I am glad Shangela lost. Ru Paul was picking favorites by bringing her back for the THIRD time while every other Queen had one Season behind them. Shangela should have been swapped for another Queen who only had one Season. If Shangela had to come back, I’d put her against competitors like Alaska,Tyra, and Violet to see how good she really is to make it at the end. This was really BendelaCreme’s Season to win or lose had she not quit.
I think that Ru really wanted Shangela to have the crown and was just as shocked she was eliminated but if she made F2 Ru would have made her the first African-American All Star Winner regardless of who she was lip syncing against based on her record of wins in the House.
Hotflesh
Sorry wrong thread. Apologies! Call yourself Gay,Queer,or any other name is does not matter to me. Just live your life without being a hypocrite in Trump America an support your LGBTQI Community.
NCSilverBear
Handsome man. However, “queer” is such a dated and nondescript label that has always meant something less and other than what GLBT historically and more authentically means — or stands for. “Queer” is a cop-out term used by those who are afraid of who they really are. IMO
Donston
A lot of people have a lot of different aspects and contradictions to their orientation and/or sense of gender, and sometimes those aspects are rather “seedy”. “Queer” is the easiest thing to grab on to, covering all possibilities. It is starting to mean less and less. I do feel like if you want to truly own your truth then truly own your truth. If you’re into dudes, chicks, trans people, mostly into dudes, mostly into chicks, mostly into trans people, into whatever gender as long as they’re masculine, into whatever gender as long as they’re feminine, more sexually into this gender but more romantically into that gender, 50/50 bi or pan- whatever it is own it and don’t show shame towards it. Don’t have to be ostentatious. You don’t have to use it for attention. You don’t have to talk about “pride” all the time. Just don’t show shame towards your majority orientation and don’t show shame towards your nuances. Many public figures understandably don’t want to go there. And clearly, many people still have a hard time being seen as “gay” or “mostly gay”. So, it is what it is.
Finnsail
Oh, please. Anyone in the NYC theatre community has always know about this adorable man. Where have the rest of you been?
TopManVA
Who?
And… the other two “probably” came out this week? Sounds like really reckless reporting to me!
Get back to me when you know.
nitejonboy
Well good for him, he’s gorgeous!! Why have I not been watching Gotham ?? I support any actor coming out, but it’s super nice when they’re hot!!
dash_board1
Uh, I’m too old for this. The reason people don’t know what he came out as, or if he even came out ,is because ‘queer’ can literally mean anything and, therefore, it means nothing. An ally can be considered queer now.
This special snowflake bullshit about how their sexuality is so complex that it can’t be categorised is such nonsense. Bisexual/pansexual covers all your bases.
Wolfie
The writer of the article used the term queer. Cory Michael Smith did not.
Lookyloo
So many people bemoaning his use of ‘queer’ – whining about how it’s just trendy or even non-descriptive or something.
Such short memories – or lack of recent historical knowledge – people have.
Now I shouldn’t have to go on but we seem to have addled brains in our midst. So here goes: the word queer as an umbrella-term is nothing new in the gay community. It’s not just now trendy and it very much means not-straight (and these days, not-cis) This is common knowledge and nothing new and non-ambiguous. Try to remember this.
For example, the gay rights group Queer Nation – formed in 1990 – had the very well know slogan/chant “We’re here, we’re queer, get used to it” —
Ring a bell?
So quit losing your memory so often and getting your feel-feels challenged by people using the word ‘queer’ to describe themselves.