“We kind of winged it. We kind of loosely talked about it, and as actors, you talk about your comfort zone and ‘This is what I’m comfortable with and within these parameters, I’ll give you 110 percent.’ Then the director would be like, ‘Action,’ and you would have four orgasms, expecting a cut after any one of those, and it just didn’t happen.”American Gods actor Omid Abtahi to Vulture, describing what it was like to film what’s being billed as the “most hardcore gay sex scene” to appear on mainstream television. “This felt like an action movie,” Mousa Kraish, Abtahi’s scene partner, added. “We wanted it to be real and we both wanted it to be about two men who are in love with one another.”
Here are the two characters meeting in a taxi cab in Sunday night’s episode:
Minerva pomerantz
It has been reported that the scene had to be reshot because it was not believable. The second time they got it but it is not pornographic. It was a nice metaphor that the djinn’s orgasm filled Salim with energy that had fire shooting out of his eye sockets. Nice touch.
Ken A.
What was so hardcore about it. A lot of hype for nothing much. The scene itself was beautiful but, to be honest, it is something you would see on TV. There was very little frontal nudity.
ShowMeGuy
Starz is “television”? A premium level cable network is far from “television”.
Keebler ILF
Exactly what I thought. Starz isn’t mainstream television. Starz showed more frontal nudity and gay sex on Spartacus: Gods of the Arena.
BTW, the bottom, Omid Abtahi, also played a closeted gay muslim on Showtime’s Sleeper Cell. For the rest of my life I’ll never forget what they said about Britney Spears on that show (which I can’t repeat here).
Richard 55
Yawn – I’ve seen more explicit scenes at a gay picnic.
Prax07
Wasn’t hard core at all, GoT is more graphic than this was.
SumSay
Leave it to the gays (particularly on queerty) to leave a seething criticism of a very well done, intimate, passionate, visually stunning, and vibrant love scene, between two men that most productions wouldn’t even think to produce or film. Are you not entertained? Will you ever be?
trell
Guys…..the scene is not supposed to actually be hardcore. if you want hardcore, just watch porn.
I haven’t seen it, yet, but I have been watching American Gods, and it is excellent TV. Gay scene or not, I am a big fan of Neil Gaiman and this show is a slice of quality….
…but by all accounts, the scene at the centre of this ‘controversy’ is one that seems to be pushing the envelope of what is permitted to be screened on TV, and good for the producers for making the effort.
stevetalbert
Do they hav eat ass sex like in How to Get Away With Murder??
Sorry, bad autocorrect. I meant kick ass
jamih
What’s with this obsession with the scene being “hardcore”? There was nothing hardcore about it nor it was the intention.
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Raphael
“hardcore”, sure… It’s not bad, it’s just not all that. Shows like Oz, Queer as Folk and a lot of others had more hardcore than that.
Orgoglio Masch
Even though I’m still rather lost with this show, it’s visually stunning.
Seems like some of you guys were expecting to see hardcore porn on TV; that’s what tube sites are for, guys! This is TV, and this was definitely hardcore gay sex…for a TV show. I’d even say it was better because the two actors looked like they actually enjoyed it, which is more than I can say for most porn gay scenes these days.
isxios
Seems this Gay blog has forgotten how crazy the scenes in Queer as Folk were.This scene was interesting, but it quickly shifted to a cartoon, unlike the scenes of Bilquis swallowing people with her cooter, which still tells me how gay sex is still sort of hidden away by gimmickry in order to keep straight people from saying “Ew!”
viktor262
I saw theclip. If this was hardcore then I suggest you watch real porn. It was quite beautiful especially when it went into the dark kinda mythological scene.
The fire eyes was crazy cool. Ok so you saw some penis but it was not hard which would be hardcore.
I mean why are we shocked we see women naked all the time. It’s not fare that women are placed in that position. What’s good for women should be good for men too.
In Europe this is normal, why we as a nation are so uptight with nudity and sexuality. We need to grow up!!!
Watch the scene and look at the ART side of it. It was beautiful.
silveroracle
Not available in this country
OzJosh
Not only is the scene not particularly explicit, it is nowhere near as realistic as numerous scenes in Queer As Folk (either version), Banana and Cucumber, or even the lamentable Looking. More to the point, it wasn’t particularly sexy – two not particularly attractive dudes, a depressing hotel room and the creepy-comical special effects with the burning eyes. I was too busy laughing and rolling my eyes to find it even vaguely erotic.