Last week Inception hunk Tom Hardy reportedly acknowledged he messed around with other guys in the past. “I’m an actor for fuck’s sake. I’ve played with everything and everyone. I love the form and the physicality, but now that I’m in my thirties, it doesn’t do it for me. I’m done experimenting but there’s plenty of stuff in a relationship with another man, especially gay men, that I need in my life.” Now a “source” claims Hardy was, ahem, misquoted.
“A lot of people say I seem masculine, but I don’t feel it,” Hardy continued. “I feel intrinsically feminine. I’d love to be one of the boys but I always felt a bit on the outside. Maybe my masculine qualities come from overcompensating because I’m not one of the boys.”
Now is Hardy’s backtracking another instance of overcompensating?
E!’s catty gossip gay Tom Casablanca quotes “a source close to the rising star” who insists the remarks were “all taken out of context.” How so? Because Hardy “was discussing a gay role and quotes coming from the character.” As we pointed out before, Hardy played Handsome Bob, a gay ganster in 2008’s RocknRolla, and while I haven’t seen every film in his IMDB, five minutes of Googling and I couldn’t find another gay role (unless something called Layer Cake has some double meaning I’m unaware of).
How about we take this to the next level?
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So either Hardy — who is engaged and planning a wedding with stunning fiance Charlotte Riley — has a tendency to quote scripts he used to work on to British reporters, or he absolutely had a hardy old time with other gents in his younger years. And now his handlers are working to erase it.
Caspar
He’s definitely not gay in Layer Cake. It’s worth checking out though, an example of a british gangster movie not ruined by Mr Madonna.
Mike (@tazz602)
So sad that his handlers are doing this – for once, an actor was candid, honest and didn’t care what the fuck anyone else thought. I respected him much more for making the comments at the time, and I respect that he experimented but it’s not for him. I respect him much less now.
Lucas
If he experimented when younger and now doesn’t like it anymore, I guess he’s an ex-bissexual.
L.
He never claimed he was bi, formally or not. He just said he had fooled around with men when young. I think we all know some guys who did the same and still are straight.
He’s a really good actor and has nothing but nice things to say about gays. That should suffice.
aalan brickman
Maybe he`s just bi..not gay…..The gays are to blame, not the handlers….
Ian
@aalan brickman: Before people go ragging on Aalan on his comment, there is actually truth to his words. It’s been seen and proven in a number of articles on Hollywood that it is in fact gay men in the highest levels as producers, production company owners, etc. who are the one’s who enforce the rules of staying in the closet for actors in Hollywood. It’s perplexing, sick, & sad all at the same time.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@Ian: You arguing “Jews control the media” bigot’s response except you swapped gay for Jewish.
In fact, some guy on the extreme right just this week claimed that gays were responsible for Nazi Germany because we secretly were in charge.
Nice to see the bigots have supporters here.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@aalan brickman: The gay media pretty much said a) he’s straight, but was experimenting (isn’t this cool he admitted to the experimentation) or b) asked “Is he bi?”
However, don’t let the facts get in the way of your bigoted rant about how its the gays fault that he was forced to deny something that gay people actually thought it was cool for a straight or bi actor to admit. Yes, its our fault that Hollywood is so conservative that such experimentation isn’t allowed. Pretty much, your supporter used the canard that we used to see with Jews- “Gays control Hollywood” as a defense of how one can describe up is down, and down as up, and somehow end up with “gays are to blame.”
Very 1984 of you
D'oh, The Magnificent
@L.: Except no one said what you said either. I don’t know why some people here are so pathological, but here’s the deal- if you read what people actually wrote-t hey were very nice to the guy. Said, it doesn’t mean he’s gay. They said he was perhaps experimenting, and isn’t it cool he’s comfortable enough to admit this. Pretty- in other words- what you said. Yet, here you are suggesting that he is being attacked because one notes that his handlers are trying to spin it due to the bigotry in Hollywood. Look, you can’t have it both ways. Either he is gay friendly, and doesn’t particularly care if someone knows he experimented, OR, he’s got a problem with it. No one cares on some level except for the damage done by making seem like same sex behavior is something to be denied. At the end o the day, I have said, I don’t think this is a big deal- but right now, with some of your responses, I think its more of a big Rorshach for the bag people carry around about being gay or bi or experimentation. In other words, when you and others make all these statements about how we should react to what he said, that’s telling me a lot more about you.
RR
Daily Mail interview was heavily edited, in original interview from 2009 Tom Hardy claimed he’s straight (I don’t believe him for a second):
Have you ever had any sexual relations with men?
As a boy? Of course I have. I’m an actor for *beep*’s sake. I’m an artist. I’ve played with everything and everyone. But I’m not into men sexually. I love the form and the physicality but the gay sex bit does nothing for me. In the same way as a wet vagina would turn someone else into a lemon-sucking freak. To me it just doesn’t compute now I’m into my 30s and it doesn’t do it for me and I’m done experimenting.
Have you done it all?
Not all but I can imagine. We’ve all got an *beep* and I can imagine. It just doesn’t do it for me, sex with another man.
http://www.rainbownetwork.com/UserPortal/Article/Detail.aspx?ID=23629&sid=43
Ian
@D’oh, The Magnificent: I see you decry my FACTS yet you admit to their truth in your very next response. It is you sir who are coming across as very reactionary and accepting of the status-quo. If your not willing to look at the FACTS that it is indeed more often than not gay men in positions of power in Hollywood and the media who enforce the straight-jacket of living both in the closet and the down-low onto many actors, who otherwise will not find work if they are not willing to cow-toe to these Hollywood-elites demands, that sir makes you quite ignorant and actually ACCEPTING of the current status-quo if you are refusing to see the TRUTH.
Bobert
I knew it
🙁
Ryan
An “unnamed source” means nothing. There’s not a soul on earth that believes the “talking in character” bullshit. Tom Hardy even talked on Jonathan Ross’s show last week about once waking up naked in bed with another man while holding a loaded gun.
Toby
It’s not his fault, if you want to “blame” someone, blame his Agent.
And listen, this has NOTHING to do about the actor being brave or not…
This has EVERYTHING to do about the American public having MAJOR issues with their own bisexuality.
Oh sure America, only 10% of your country is gay…the other 90% is ALL MAN…oh sure it is…whateva gets you through the night…
D'oh, The Magnificent
@Ian: You are just some bigot with a computer. No better than any thing the right does. In fact, my guess is you are a right wing bigot.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@Toby: Let me help you with the definition of the word “agent”:
One empowered to act for or represent another
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/agent
They were acting for him.
On some level, I liked when he was just saying it was experimentation. That’s fine with me. I don’t care if this guy is straight, bi or gay. He sounds like he was like several o my friends- just checking it out because he was curious. That’s a part of life.
What I don’t like is all the efforts by those who like him to justify the dissonance of liking someone who may be retreating from an earlier held desire to explore just because it aids his career. On some level, I can understand him. He’s got a career to protect. I don’t, however, understand fans.
DR
I think Tom needs to get new handlers who don’t panic so much at his frank discussion of sex and sexuality.
Toby
@D’oh, The Magnificent:
An Agent is like a lawyer. They give you advice, and chances are, if you don’t listen to that advice, they leave you.
I’m sure his agent had the “Listen kid, first let me make you 20 million dollars, then as far as I care you can have Ellen marry you to Big Gay Al as you’re getting buttfucked by Lance Bass on Logo….but the 20 million FIRST!”
I’ll be honest with you…it’s a hell of an argument.
L.
@D’oh, The Magnificent: I refer to the post title, “So Is Tom Hardy Not Formerly Bisexual?”, and to the phrase “Now is Hardy’s backtracking another instance of overcompensating?”
Both put the onus on Hardy, and not his handlers, As far as we know or are told, he did not deny what he said before. That is what irked, me as it seemed to imply he was a bi coward.
I do not for one second he is bi, and as long as he doesn’t publicly disavows his statements, he’s not a coward. He’s just, like many men before him, a former horny young guy who had sex with other guys.
As for interpreting any of comments as being anything other than supportive of gay, lesbian, bi, trans, straight – I’d love to see evidence of that, since whenever I’m stupid enough to get into these debates here, it’s mostly to take to task anyone attacking others’ sexualities.
And yes, I sometimes resort to snark because the insistence of some to co-opt anyone into the gay fold – from welcome people like Hardy, who seems nice and decent, not to mention hot, to Schock, who is a bigger dick than we deserve – really gets to me. And many of those are even coupled to accusations of being a closet case and denier, going as far as berating a 19-year-old for not coming out sooner.
Still, I’m glad my comments tell you about me. Condescension tells us a lot too, mind.
L.
@DR: That’s basically the gist of it, I agree.
Michael
@Ryan: Exactly. Who knows who this source was besides a PR rep doing what the felt was damage control.
ewe
I think if his stance is that he is straight then gay people should not give any more attention to an already over celebrated orientation. Please. Are there that many people who give a fuck what his racing mind is churning about the box he needs to stay in to enhance his persona? I can’t stand people in the closet. They irritate me.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@Toby: since I am a lawyer, I am going to feel pretty comfortable in saying that a lawyer and other agents aren’t the one who make the final decision. But thanks for sharing.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@L.:Whatever you need to pretend to get you trhough the day.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@DR: You are supplying excuses for which you have no basis for making such a conclusion. It does help others who want to like the guy however.
L.
@D’oh, The Magnificent: Oh. I was civil because I thought you could be. Thank you for showing me the error of my ways.
jason
The agents are likely to be attempting a cover up. Don’t fall for it. It was clear from the Now interview that Tom was referring to himself and not a role.
The agents and handlers in Hollywood are extremely homophobic, especially when it comes to men. There’s a sexism within their homophobia. If it’s a man who’s bisexual or gay, it’s covered up. If it’s a woman who’s bi or gay, she’s publicly glamorized and called “open-minded”.
The agents should be our enemies. I don’t care if those very same agents are gay. Gay agents are known to be notoriously homophobic.
A great big “fuck you” to the Hollywood agents.
jason
All Hollywood agents should be rounded up and placed in a prison. They’re amongst the most homophobic people out there. Tom Hardy’s honesty was refreshing. It’s the attempted cover up that does the damage, not the homosexual experiences of the man.
Max the Communist
Frankly, I have only one requirement of celebrities, whether they come out as bisexual, gay, sometimes gay or gay-for-pay–if you are going to bring up the subject at all, at least clear that with your publicist so that you can present a consistent message about your sexuality to the public and, finally, say something about supporting equal rights for all LGBT.
The day is coming fast when no one will find any same-sex behavior shocking, either past or present. But will you stand up for something? Will you make some statement about ending homophobic discrimination? Will you show that you care about other people who are not privileged celebrities, who are not making million dollar movies, who are living average lives and slogging, day-bi-day, through the bigotry?
Otherwise, as a bisexual, I could fucking care less. So you were bisexual in college–whoop-dee-fucking-doo–everyone in America is bisexual in college! But does it mean something to you, did it teach you something about discrimination, was it hard for you to come out, whatever the label was? Really–don’t just be some shallow git, going on and on about your past same-sex exploits for publicity’s sake.
Erick
Seriously Queerty, get your act together, find the facts before you start “reporting”.
Those quotes were taken by the Daily Mail from an Attitude Magazine interview from 2009 regarding his role in Rockanrolla. Those quotes most of the media regurgitated last week were taken out of context by the Daily Mail and did not accredited to Attitude.
If you read the original interview he said he fooled around with guys when was a kid, but guys dont do it for him. He in no way shape or form said he was bisexual, so he does not have to backtrack.
So when they say his comment were taken out of context is true, by the loathsome Daily Mail. In the original interview he is actually very honest and cool about playing around with guys in his teens, which is more than the majority of guys would even begin to admit to themselves.
Dont star hating on a cool guy who seems like an ally when you dont have all the facts.
menlo
This is so tiresome and ridiculous. When will our obsession with others’ sexual proclivities end?
D'oh, The Magnificent
@L.: Whatever.
D'oh, The Magnificent
Whenever he had sex with men, doesn’t mean it was taken out of context. THe only context that matters is whether he did or did not do it. I personally think its cool he experimented. The idea however now we are going to go back and parse when he experimented is silly.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@menlo: You are on a site that’s about gay men. Reality check- forgetting that for a second- most of straight entertainment is bout sex too.
Ryan C
I don’t care what he is. He’s on this Earth and beautiful and that’s enough for me. Call me simple.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@Ryan C: Not simple. Just kind of not relevant to the topic at hand.
D'oh, the magnificantly reactionary idiot
No one else but ME is right about Tom Hardy, and anyone who dares to question me I will scream and stomp my feet and call you nazis and pretty much act like the fat comic book guy from the Simpsons.
Confused?
I somehow believe that any intelligent person who read this article would know it was taken out of context.
“I’m an actor for fuck’s sake. I’ve played with everything and everyone”.
This statement alone should clue people in on the fact that it was taken from some place else. Am I suppose to believe that just being an actor makes you bisexual or gay? What good does it do for the cause if we start assuming careers make gay? I think that people should come out when they are ready, if they want to stay in the closet whats it to me? Some of us gays treat bisexuals like sh*t, why should it matter if he is or is not. I do not see this as “I don’t want to be labeled as a bisexual” but as a problem because the source took info and used it to further their agenda. It might not be what was said, but how someone used it. More importantly he said he fooled around “curiously” with males when he was younger; not that he had sex with them. Me kissing a woman and touching her breast; does not make me straight. Neither does finding beauty in both sexes, makes me bi-sexual.
With the way Queerty treats gays in Hollywood; no wonder they stay in the closet. You talk about Zachary Quinto being too gay to play parts and then get mad when someone else says it more eloquently(Newsweek). You try to call out Matt Bomer when he is not bearding, you beg for Queen Latifah and others to come of the closet and then what do you do? Post bullsh*t about them. No wonder none of our sh*t goes through; queerty too busy making us look bad.
ewe
@L.: Maybe you should suck his cock and lick his balls since he is so nice to talk pleasantly about “gays”. Big fucking deal. Do i get brownie points when i speak well of straight people for being heterosexual?
ewe
@L.: I have nothing but nice things to say about gay people being gay too. Are you going to carry my bags for me because of it like you seem to be doing for this closeted celluloid confusion?
D'oh, The Magnificent
@D’oh, the magnificantly reactionary idiot: Thanks for the overreaction, which made you write a screen name about me.
It illustrates my point exactly regarding the type of mind that posts all this favorable crap about Hollywood spin: Teenage fan girls
D'oh, The Magnificent
@ewe: Well its a given that they want to suck his cock. That explains all the excuses.
DR
@D’oh, The Magnificent:
There’s no evidence he’s backtracking, so I did not make any excuses. I don’t believe “unnamed sources”, they usually have an agenda. Until Mr. Hardy comes out and says his comment was taken out of context or is not true, I stand by my comments regardless of what your over-inflated ego thinks of my them.
KWil
DAMMIT!
I completely and utterly fell in love with him and his gorgeous kisser in INCEPTION, then thought I had even an inch of credibility to my man crush after his interview. Now, all is lost. And once again my hopes of marrying a celebrity are sadly more distant than any hetero’s.
This is a sad day.
jason
Why on earth should Tom Hardy have to get approval from his publicist? The publicist would tell him “no, you can’t do that”. Hollywood publicists are notoriously homophobic when it comes to male-male sexuality, and will do anything in their power to stop knowledge flowing through to the public.
Hollywood publicists are douche bags of the highest order. If you ever see a Hollywood publicist, give him or her a piece of your mind. They are vile people who should be admonished.
Gruber
First, yes Hardy was somewhat taken out of context and the original quotes were from last year so I have no idea why they’ve suddenly resurfaced. Someone playing games? Who knows.
Secondly, I don’t believe for a second (personally) that this man is entirely straight. But it’s his life and his career and he can project himself and be whatever he wants to be. It’s just a shame it has to end in catfighting about it.
I am sure he does not care one whit about this but someone somewhere had to say something to compensate for America’s stupid aversion to honesty re: male sexuality. I blame America’s paranoia for this one.
jason
It isn’t American’s paranoia. Rather, it is the publicist’s paranoia. Publicists are paranoid pricks. We in the GLBT community are opposed to publicists, and will seek to name and shame these pricks wherever they exist.
WalkderDC
I knew that his publicist would threaten him with loss of career and tell him to come out and claim that it’s a lie.
Hollywood publicists and studio heads should all be prosecuted for refusal to hire gays.
jason
Gruber,
Where does America come into it? America didn’t say “Tom, you shouldn’t say this”. It was the publicist who seems to be saying it. The publicist should be held accountable, not America.
straniero
Jason: Congrats: You won the a-ward for most mentallly ill person in your state! Your disability benefits will be increased by three whole dollars per month, and your mom with whom you live and takes care of you will get bonus points at her local casino!
Unfortunately, you will heretoforth be unable to access internets or malign people of color including your mom. Good luck to you in Guam as you get deported! Im sure they will welcome you with open fire arms!
fredo777
Hate to go against the grain, but that second paragraph of the quote definitely sounds questionable. It seriously sounds made up. Although I don’t really know the guy, I find it hard to believe that an actor who tries to portray such tough guy roles would allow himself to be quoted as saying anything like that.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@DR: You do the standard: Well , I don’t believe it so its not true.
That’s making an assumption, and then, from there, you run with the “I believe” statements through out. Re-read your own posts. I don’t know if the story is true or not. That’s the response of someone who doesn’t know. Now, as for me, taking the report as true, I make arguments based on the report. If the report turns out to be wrong, then good. But, otherwise, all this belief as fact analysis does nothing to add to the understanding of what’s happening. You can’t even explain why you think unnamed sources are bad. Watergate broke due to unnamed sources. So did the spilling of what happened in Iraq and its lead up, and multiple other fronts of which unnamed sources were right.
At the end of the day, you are just saying “I don’t want to believe” that’s not the same thing as unnamed sources always being wrong.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@Gruber: a) The only out of context part that matters is whether he did or did not have sex with other men. If that parts right, there is no other context. b) As I have said, he probably was experimenting, but men aren’t allowed to do that in our society and c) I am glad you are honest about the fact that he is deciding this about his career rather than trying to blame it on his agents and handlers.
L.
@D’oh, The Magnificent & ewe: Awwww, you’re both so *adorable*. Get a room, you two.
Cam
Those lips are really wasted on women.
DR
@D’oh, The Magnificent:
No, D’oh, I just don’t buy every “unnamed source” as a means of reliable information. That unnamed source could be a girlfriend, a publicist, an ex of some sort trying to keep the story alive, etc. We don’t know. As a general rule of thumb, if someone claims to have info to go public with and refuses to be named, I don’t give him or her any credibility.
At the end of the day, Tom Hardy admits that at some point, he experimented with guys. Now some coward comes forward and tries to “take it back”. That merits very little credibility until Mr. Hardy himself has anything to say.
D'oh, The Magnificent
@DR: How do you select which ones you buy into?
You don’t explain that here.
Let me end by pointing out the only relevant portion of the conversation beyond the smoke screen of “taken out of context” is whether he had sex with men or not. Yes or no. If yes, the rest is just smoke screen.
My problem with you and others is you are navel gazing about things that really at base are just design to mislead from the main question.
And no, in real life, people don’t act as you describe at the end. That’s again what you would like to see happen. That’s not necessarily what his people, given his own personality, the info out there that third parties can bring, etc can reasonably do.
So, what are they doing instead? Mudding waters. If you can’t deny a claim your own actor has made, you try to muddy the waters about the subject.
Ultimately, this comes down to also you not providing any reasonable definition of why we should be sure of some unnamed sources and not others. Your main thesis is “not in this case.” Okay- why? Don’t just list possible theories. Explain why here in this case you have proof or simply admit you are just engaged in what you want to belief. Let me end by sayign there is nothing wrong with belief other than when people act like that’s not what they are using. Believe what you want, but realize that’s all you are doing. I think there is more evidence for believing a rising actor is trying to control the media image of himself after the fact given what Hollywood is.
DR
@D’oh, The Magnificent:
I don’t buy into any, does that help clear things up for you? Unnamed sources can be anything from a well-intentioned friend to a frightened publicist to a frantic girlfriend.
You can believe whatever you want, but as I said, when folks come forward with these little tidbits, I don’t naively buy into them. That source could be anyone, and refusal to reveal themselves and their motive makes all of them suspect, so until Mr. Hardly decides to publicly take back his statements, the coward known as the “unnamed source” can take a flying leap for all I care…
D'oh, The Magnificent
@DR: Yes, it clears up that you have no idea what you are talking about. The problem is DR – history and actual prior examples illustrate that you can’t make the argument you are making without coming across as someone trying to rationalize in the moment. Part of journalism is unnamed sources. Many have been right in the past. SUmmarily rejecting them because you don’t want to believe it is poor judgement without more of a reason to reject it in this case. Its a simple as that.
Hilarious
I just made my first contact in Hollywood last week and he was seriously pressuring me to flirt with a girl sitting next to me. Even going as far as to flirt with her himself and he’s married all the while it felt like he was flirting with me as well.
Hollyweird is really full of closet cases and as others have said it’s the folks behind the camera that enforce it.
I wouldn’t dare tell him I’m gay and my career path is behind the camera yet I have to deal with the same crap.
DR
@D’oh, The Magnificent:
Until Hardy publicly recants his statements, unnamed sources are utterly untrustworthy in my opinion, especially when said unnamed sources run to a rag mag. But that’s our culture now, right? We believe all the unnamed sources, and we don’t ask questions, either. Just like you’re advocating.
I prefer asking questions and wondering about motives than just accepting the credibility of a coward. I refuse to buy into consumer culture and believe everything that’s published just because it was published.
Marcus
@jason:
Bingo. BTW, you should meet these people. They are worried about everything. The public moved on a long time ago, but these people are stuck in 1957.
@WalkderDC:
They hire gays all the time…it’s OUT gays they have a problem with. And lot of those people who are doing the hiring are gay on stilts, themselves.
Some people here are weird.
Remember, those same people are the ones who said Neil Patrick Harris’, Ellen, and Adam Lambert’s careers would be destroyed because the public wouldn’t buy, watch, or listen to anything they did.
Matt
@Confused?:
So they stay in the closet because of what some malcontents on the internet say?
You have to do better than that.
Blaine Ward
@D’oh, The Magnificent: Exactly! I guess Mr. Hardy wants his 15 minutes of fame badly enough and has has therefore accepted to “retract” his own words.