Newsweek Criticizes Gay Actors for Playing Straight Roles

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Chenoweth Fires Back at Newsweek for Criticizing Gay Actors in Straight Roles

Not that we have any beef with Kristin Chenoweth to begin with, but we'd think long and hard about picking a war of words with her after this. On Friday, Ms. Chenoweth, the Tony Award-winner and star of "Promises, Promises," posted a lengthy online rebuttal to a Newsweek article that she called "horrendously homophobic" for contending that gay actors could not play straight characters, and citing her "Promises, Promises" co-star Sean Hayes as an example.

In the original Newsweek article, called "Straight Jacket" and published online in April, Ramin Setoodeh wrote: "While it's OK for straight actors to play gay (as Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger did in 'Brokeback Mountain'), it's rare for someone to pull off the trick in reverse."

In her response, which was published at Newsweek.com as well asBroadway.com and Autostraddle.com, Ms. Chenoweth wrote: "This article offends me because I am a human being, a woman and a Christian. For example, there was a time when Jewish actors had to change their names because anti-Semites thought no Jew could convincingly play Gentile."

She added:

Audiences aren't giving a darn about who a person is sleeping with or his personal life. Give me a break! We're actors first, whether we're playing prostitutes, baseball players, or the Lion King. Audiences come to theater to go on a journey. It's a character and it's called acting, and I'd put Hayes and his brilliance up there with some of the greatest actors period.

At the end of her letter, Ms. Chenoweth wrote, "No one needs to see a bigoted, factually inaccurate article that tells people who deviate from heterosexual norms that they can't be open about who they are and still achieve their dreams." She added: "I encourage Newsweek to embrace stories which promote acceptance, love, unity and singing and dancing for all!"

http://artsbeat.blog...straight-roles/

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Newsweek has been irrelevant for years now...

and See: Neil Patrick Harris

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Newsweek has been irrelevant for years now...

and See: Neil Patrick Harris

Or, Rock Hudson, Jim Neighbors, Chuck Connors, ...

[The_Dude 1,142]

He started off ok, Sean Hayes can't really pull off playing a straight man. But that is by no means an indictment on all gay actors/acress'.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

I hate it when a transgender plays a transvestite role.

[Nagishkaw 510]

Really , who cares?

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Newsweek has been irrelevant for years now...

As has its competitor Time (I responded to a letter about the latter recently where the letter-writer complained that an article looked like the author had "done his research on scraps of TP"--with "that's just about THAT magazine's only use anyway") and its parent-company WaPo. Edited May 11, 2010 by Saddle Bronc

[Obama 2012 1,714]

As has its competitor Time (I responded to a letter about the latter recently where the letter-writer complained that an article looked like the author had "done his research on scraps of TP"--with "that's just about THAT magazine's only use anyway") and its parent-company WaPo.

Time is a bit better and actually puts some decent work into some of their articles. - While a good lot of them are pure #######, I still enjoy some of them that they actually take time to think out/write.

They just had a really good piece on the history of 'the pill' for instance that was well thought-out/detailed...

Sometimes they come through, sometimes they don't.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Time is a bit better and actually puts some decent work into some of their articles. - While a good lot of them are pure #######, I still enjoy some of them that they actually take time to think out/write.

They just had a really good piece on the history of 'the pill' for instance that was well thought-out/detailed...

Sometimes they come through, sometimes they don't.

In the very rare (once-in-blue-moon) case so does Newsweek (see this week's column by Fareed Zakaria on Pakistan jihadism's supermarket).

But on-the-whole, I consider both magazines only good for binning (or loo-paper) since NLT 1995.

Edited May 11, 2010 by Saddle Bronc

[almaty 19]

(or loo-paper)

better than corn cobs, just saying