Is Hollywood still punishing queer men for coming out?

By Henry Giardina

Such as: why aren’t we seeing Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o in more mainstream Hollywood movies? What about Oscar winner Daniel Kaluuya? Why does Hollywood treat Black actors as disposable, while mediocre white actors stay consistently booked and busy?

It’s not only actors of color who face this conundrum, though they are disproportionately effected by it. But when considering the less-packed schedule of out queer actor Lee Pace, we might ask the same question. When it comes to casting, why are certain actors seemingly getting blacklisted?

Well, for pretty obvious reasons, sadly. As Burkmar explained in a previous video, Nyong’o’s breakout performance in 12 Years a Slave caused her to be pigeonholed by a racist industry invested not in Black excellence, but in casting Nyong’o in more slave narratives.

And for queer actors, there’s a similarly icky problem at play. While we’ve undeniably come a long way since the closeted days of the 1980s thanks to out-gay stars like Matt Bomer and Sexiest Man Alive Jonathan Bailey, the closet is still a major problem in Hollywood.

Recently, comedian Caleb Hearon talked about this issue on his podcast “So True.”

“I think people would be shocked,” Hearon explained. “They think that being queer in Hollywood is this big glamorous thing—they don’t want us in stuff.”

According to Hearon, while out actors obviously exist in Hollywood, there are far more talented people who stay in the closet because of this problem. And as an actor consistently showing up onscreen alongside some of the buzziest talents in the game like Benito Skinner and Rachel Sennott, Hearon should know better than anyone. “So many of your favorite straight heartthrob actors are gay,” he says. Same as it ever was!

But in the comments of that discussion, as Burkmar identifies, one of the actors under discussion is The Hobbit and Halt and Catch Fire star Lee Pace, who was outed in 2018 while doing a production of Angels in America in London.

When an interviewer asked a leading question about Pace’s sexuality, the actor responded honestly, saying that he’s dated men and women. “I don’t know why anyone would care,” he continued. “I’m an actor and I play roles. To be honest, I don’t know what to say. I find your question intrusive.”

Gay acting legend Ian McKellen seemed to out Pace earlier on in 2014 without realizing it, but it wasn’t until 2018 that Pace’s queer identity made mainstream news.