Everyone knows show business can be cutthroat. And rejection is all part of the game. But that doesnât mean itâs always right.
Joseph Segal is a musician and performer from London. He recently applied for representation at a local talent agency but was turned down because it âalready had a gay actor.â
Say what?!
In its rejection letter, the agency said: âWe already have a gay actor on our books and also an actor/musician of the same age. So we feel there would be a clash. Iâm unable to consider you at the moment.â
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Segal shared the letter he received on Twitter, along with a scathing response:
Today I received this email from an
#agent I am hurt and frustrated. Are all#gayactors the same? Do we not get cast? Are there not enough roles for us? If you can take the time to#RETWEEET please do and spread awareness!#LGBT#actor#ActorsLife#TimesUpÂ#casting@EquityUK
Â
Today I received this email from an #agent I am hurt and frustrated. Are all #gayactors the same? Do we not get cast? Are there not enough roles for us? If you can take the time to #RETWEEET please do and spread awareness! #LGBT #actor #ActorsLife #TimesUp #casting @EquityUK pic.twitter.com/fvMWtEeQkD
â Joseph Segal (@JosephPCSegal) March 10, 2018
After the tweet went viral, the agency responded with an apology.
âWe offer our sincerest of apologies to you and anyone else who may have taken offense,â it wrote. âWhen choosing clients we look at all aspects the artist brings to the table and at no point should we have commented on your sexuality.â
I have just received this statement from the agency which they wish me to share: pic.twitter.com/8VPTVZuyyU
â Joseph Segal (@JosephPCSegal) March 10, 2018
Well, apparently that wasnât enough. Because, two days later, the agency was forced to close. Apparently, the other clients didnât want to be associated with a homophobic organization and left in droves.
Thank you for your support and response. The agency will close after a number of it's clients leaving. This was an inexperienced agency, who I now know, was not a member of the necessary associations. Donations will be made to @LGBTfdn and @MindCharity. I have no further comment
â Joseph Segal (@JosephPCSegal) March 12, 2018
Related:Â Powerful Hollywood agent accused of sexual assault by multiple young men
DCguy
“””âWhen choosing clients we look at all aspects the artist brings to the table and at no point should we have commented on your sexuality.â “”””
———————————–
The only difference between this agency and the big ones is that this one was actually honest about it’s bigotry.
I have zero doubt that agencies like CAA have conversations where they talk about already having a black woman client in her 30’s, or already having a gay actor. Then they turn around and send out vague rejection letters that don’t state the actual reasons.
Billy Budd
This is show business in its essence.
Brody
The lesson here?
Be wary of snowflakes, for they will happily cost you your livelihood for hurting their feelings.
DCguy
Here is the ultimate example of the hate that the anti-lgbt trolls are trying to spew on this site.
They are trying to normalize bigotry and hate. Classifying bigotry, hatred, racism, and discrimination as whiny people getting their feelings hurt.
Look, we get it, you are evil, and you and your many screenames are here with one goal. To harm lgbts any way you can, to normalize the hatred, and defend the bigotry of the current Republican party.
On the bright side, you and all of your screenames are Sh*t at it and very obvious.
radiooutmike
Hmmm. I wonder how many times they rejected cis-white heterosexual males and females because they had too many? One or two of each kind only please!
ptb2016
Snowflakes? As you are on this site I assume thatâs what you classify yourself as. You might hate yourself but do not include all gays in the same category.
Navalator
Brody is a despicable reptile. Ignore his incoherent sick ravings as he will soon choke on a big cock in some public toilet and we will be rid of him.
Cylest Brooks
Just a heads up, Queerty changed it’s comment policy on 3/14/2018. This comment would be deleted under the new comment policy, so make sure you give it a read. We value your opinion, and encourage you to continue commenting according to our new policies!
https://www.queerty.com/queertys-comment-policy
Hussain-TheCanadian
@Brody
Snowflakes? You are disgusting; your response is empty of any empathy, understanding, love, or sense of community. I highly doubt you’re gay; if this is your response to an obvious homophobic rejection letter, then it’s not weird to me why you always side with our oppressors.
Don’t you dare respond by saying this is “my opinion”; attitudes like yours are the reason why the gay community in many parts of the world is oppressed, and that includes the United States.
Navalator
Stop trying to be reasonable Hussain. You are reacting to the rantings of a profoundly mentally challenged idiot.
Kangol
@Hussain, Mo-Brody regularly trolls on here, whining about liberals and Democrats–he’s utterly snowflakish about some perceived lack of acceptance of his right-wing beliefs–but when it comes to showing any kind of sympathy for a gay person (or a person of color, etc.) who has experienced homophobia and anti-gay/anti-LGBTQ oppression, he’s either silent or on the attack against…liberals! But he’s not alone; there’s a whole cluster of right-wing/alt-right trolls who regularly post, and some sound almost identical to each other. I usually write “Mo-Brody” because he’s almost identical to a previous poster, “Mo Bro,” who claimed to be biracial and had a similar hatred/fixation toward liberals. The worst ones are openly homophobic, transphobic and racist, which is probably why Queerty regularly posts articles to spur them to comment. Lots of page clicks, you know.
Brody
Hussain & Kangol –
The fact that you’re so threatened by any opinion that doesn’t jibe with your own reveals how insecure you actually are in your beliefs.
Hussain-TheCanadian
@ Kangol and Navalator
Thank you both for your advice, people like brody, especially if they’re gay, infuriate me because their sh*tty opinion underlines a belief that is anti-gay culture, behavior, uniqueness and ultimately acceptance.
Look at his responce, he predictably called his comment “opinion”, which it is, however the implication of such opinions is not innocent, scholarly, beneficial or a different way of looking at the state of gay liberation, but a belief we don’t deserve protection laws, social advancement and a right to our humanity.
The cute thing is, he thinks we are threatened by his sh*tty opinion, as if gay people in the United States are completely equal to their straight counterparts in all aspects of society, and what we are doing here is just intellectual sparring while smoking sheesha and enjoying shawarma sandwiches.
crowebobby
Publishing companies do (or used to do) the same thing. They draw up an agenda which includes so many crime novels, so many romance, so many gay, so many etc., etc. And if your work isn’t a sure best seller, you’d be out of luck if they already something in your genre. (Of course, Monica Dickens could send in work handwritten on the back of old grocery lists and it was immediately read.)
crowebobby
Tenses got a little mixed there, but you know what I meant.
Notright
Well I hope he is able to find work soon. https://packedman.com/will-you-find-love/ I do advise against publishing private emails though. If I were an agency I wouldn’t sign this dude as I’d be too afraid he’d put me on blast.
DCguy
Publishing the private emails is exactly what exposed the bigotry though. And the other agencies don’t have anything to worry about if they don’t send him something similar.
Navalator
Not Right is not right. Publishing the email is what made it RIGHT.
Brian
When is Queerty going to block this spammer?
ptb2016
No agent Iâve ever had contact with, and that has been a lot in my time in the film and television business, would never behave in the way this agency did. Talent is what they look for. What you do in bed they donât give a damn about! If they did theyâd find themselves without many of their best earners!
Sam6969
I think the inexperienced agency confused being gay with being effeminate in the rejection letter.
They likely implied Joseph Segal was a bit too effeminate to play credible straight roles, i.e. able not to make of his supposed effeminacy a part of his character. They expected, at least, sexual orientation invisibility. That’s how I read their rejection letter.
The movie industry, as a whole, generally perpetuates, but also reflects gender behavior stereotypes in the population (much more than strict homophobia). People still have difficulties to imagine a flamboyant boy being straight and kissing a girl, but it is, basically, a stereotype to think you cannot be effeminate and straight. It is just unusual…
Beyond all discrimination considerations, it means a (gay) actor may have to be able to tone down his effeminacy, if he wants to play a wider range of roles and not being limited to “gay roles” and effeminate men roles.
Note: I am not saying Joseph Segal is actually effeminate, since the only video I have seen of him is this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1RaMS-qYaw
JK 1984
I work with a guy who is straight but is way more flamboyant than either of us two gay guys. Everyone in our team and lots of people in his personal life (including his wife to be) thought he was gay when they first met him. So he sometimes has to “come out as straight”.
This is why the stereotype in a lot of cultures of masculine/straights, flamboyant/gay (as well as others not relevant to this conversation) needs to die out, there are so many variants of people that pigeon-holing people based on characteristics that don’t define them leads to division.
Brian
I’m wondering how the whole gay thing came up in the first place. Was it just because he was so obviously gay, did he declare “I’m a gay actor”, did he casually mention a boyfriend? The response from the agency references an email, so did he even ever meet them in person?
Obviously he shouldn’t have to hide who he is, and good for him for being open in an industry where that is still definitely a hindrance. But there is a difference between living your life openly, and making sure people know you’re gay in a situation where it’s really irrelevant. Don’t be a gay actor, be an actor who just happens to be gay.
Sam6969
JK 1984: exactly. I met a very flamboyant guy at the University and he had to come out as straight, because everybody (including me at the beginning, I must confess) thought he was gay. That is the way we are conditioned to see people, in a binary gender way.
Brian, yes these are relevant questions. He may also just have said that he would be willing to play gay roles, with no exclusive, since he is gay himself. However, as an actor, if he wants to play all kind of characters, he may have to be more flexible in his sensitivity and performance. Actually, he may well be.
On the other hand, as discussed with JK 1984, it would be great the society also dissociates gender behavior and sexual orientation, and stop putting binary labels on people, so that it does not surprise anyone to see effeminate men playing straight roles (without giving much thought to their real sexual orientation, even if they know it). I know it will take time đ
Sam6969
To put is shortly, gender behavior nonconformity still makes straight (and many gay) men cringe much more than homosexuality itself.
Esscourt
You could park an A380 on the kidâs forehead.
Brody
Forehead?
I thought it was a helicopter windshield.
Juanjo
Oh look, two sock puppets engaged in incest.
Juanjo
Dear NotRight in the head:
I often hear douchebags makes some frivolous comment about private emails. This is because either they are idiots or, well because they are idiots. If you send a letter or an email to a person in business correspondence which is what has happened here, then the recipient has every right to do with the letter as he wishes. This is why one should never put anything in writing anything you would not on the front page of the newspaper.
Brian
Are you capable of just posting a comment without making nasty comments about other posters? Yes, there are plenty of a-holes in here, no, they don’t need to be called out on it with every comment. You’ve become just as obnoxious as the people you constantly sneer down your nose at.