Ian McKellen's "Vic" is the most realistic gay edy we've seen a long time |

Contents:

• OH YOU SILLY THG, OF COURSE HE’S GAY
• WISNS MIDDLE SCHOOL FEATUR 'THIS BOOK IS GAY' LIBRARY, STIRRG ONLE OUTRAGE
• ROLLS ROYCE-DRIVG TATE AGENT JAILED FOR VIC ATTACK WH GLASS BOTTLE AND METAL BAR ON TWO GAY MEN - BEFORE DRIVG OFF HIS WHE LUXURY MOTOR
• IAN MCKELLEN'S "VIC" IS THE MOST REALISTIC GAY EDY WE'VE SEEN A LONG TIME
• DO VIC MARK THE END OF GAY TV CHARACTERS BEG VISIBLE?

OH YOU SILLY THG, OF COURSE HE’S GAY

Jabi (“I, Cldi”) as two fsy, fdg partners a gay relatnship of nearly 50 years. “Vic” was succsful enough to earn a send season, but was also cricized by Brish publitns like The Stage, which said that s “gay characters are nothg more than mp stereotyp” and that the scenars “bear no remblance to the liv of the viewers at home, ” while The Guardian wrote that the seri “cheerfully tras clichés of homosexualy.

” As “Vic” arriv the Uned Stat, the bate over s pictns of gay men reopens an argument that has nonted Amerin edi like “Will & Grace, ” “Glee, ” “Morn Fay” and other shows wh gay a televisn character who exhibs stereotypilly gay quali a stereotype himself? Or do the prence of such figur monstrate that TV is makg progrs on gay reprentatn?

And who gets to ci what attribut are offensive, or stereotypil or gay?

WISNS MIDDLE SCHOOL FEATUR 'THIS BOOK IS GAY' LIBRARY, STIRRG ONLE OUTRAGE

Jati, who has wrten and produced “Will & Grace” and “Fay Guy, ” and who is gay. ” "Hopper" Stone/ABCThat, too, was the appeal to s leadg men, who are both openly gay and have rarely worked together sce they were stunts at Cambridge. “The fact that was about two old queens — that was an out, fun, -your-face, gay plot — add to the spice and the fun, ” Mr.

”It was 16 years ago that dienc found themselv siarly polarized by the first seasons of “Will & Grace, ” which starred Debra Msg as a straight sgle woman and Eric McCormack as her gay bt iend. That NBC edy also took flak for s pictn of Jack, a gay iend of Will’s played by Sean Hay, who was loud, excable and, to some viewers, an embodiment of ovesed gay tras.

“In my head, I was playg a guy who’s really silly and boistero and happens to be gay, ” said Mr. ”If Jack was a gay stereotype bee he was silly or extroverted, Mr. Hay said, “there’s a huge list of stereotypil gay men Hollywood who are straight: Jim Carrey, Jerry Lewis, Dick Van Dyke, Steve Mart.

ROLLS ROYCE-DRIVG TATE AGENT JAILED FOR VIC ATTACK WH GLASS BOTTLE AND METAL BAR ON TWO GAY MEN - BEFORE DRIVG OFF HIS WHE LUXURY MOTOR

” Haston/NBC EntertamentNearly two s later, a siar bate still surrounds shows like ABC’s “Morn Fay” and the characters Cameron and Mchell, a married gay uple played by Eric Stontreet and Jse Tyler Fergon, who have been rid by some viewers as flamboyant and effemate. Christopher Lloyd, a -creator and executive producer of “Morn Fay, ” noted that the characters also posss numero quali that are not negatively or even monly associated wh gay men. “If that mak them a stereotypil gay uple, ” he add, “then I’ve lost track of what the fight is about.

”The argument over the characters, say creators and crics, is not as simple as viewers sayg they do not want to see gay people on TV.

IAN MCKELLEN'S "VIC" IS THE MOST REALISTIC GAY EDY WE'VE SEEN A LONG TIME

Rather, the bate has ntued to evolve as the medium has bee more clive and gay dienc have sought greater range and more nuance their on-screen alter egos.

Humphri, played by John Inman, whose sexualy was never addrsed — a reflectn of an era when TV uld not untenance openly gay characters. McKellen said, “bee he never said he was gay. ” Chen/FOXIn more recent years, Matthew Breen, edor chief of The Advote and puty edor at Out Magaze, said that TV viewers have also bee acctomed to nontradnal gay characters like the stra-laced police pta played by Andre Brgher on “Brooklyn Ne-Ne” (Fox) or the slovenly slacker portrayed by Adam Pally on the nceled seri “Happy Endgs” (ABC).

“It wasn’t like, ‘How n you portray all gay people as unuth slobs? ”But when gay viewers see characters who still seem to exhib outdated or clichéd behavrs, Mr.

DO VIC MARK THE END OF GAY TV CHARACTERS BEG VISIBLE?

Breen said, “ harkens back to a time when was really problematic to show openly gay characters. ”“It often triggers our — latent or otherwise — ternal homophobia, ” he said.

’ ”Yet the shows perceived as exertg too much effort to avoid gay stereotyp have also e unr fire, as happened this season to the HBO seri “Lookg, ” a edy-drama about gay men livg San Francis.

Johnson/HBOBilly Eichner, a edian and host of the Fe game show “Funny Or Die’s Billy on the Street, ” said that certa stereotypilly gay attribut were not necsarily harmful, and were irristible to edy wrers.

” For a seri like “Will & Grace” to have lasted the eight seasons that did, he said: “I don’t thk people were lghg at , like, ‘Oh, look how gay that guy is. ” “It’s actually a sign that we’ve all matured, and now ’s perfectly rpectable to have an exaggerated, farcil reprentatn of two people who are gay, ” Mr. “But I have many gay stereotyp that I fall to.

“If someone wants to do an entertag, pellg show about a bunch of gay guys who act like alpha mal, no one’s stoppg you om dog that, ” he said. ”A versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn AR, Page 16 of the New York edn wh the headle: Oh You Silly Thg, of Course He’s Gay.

TV Seri2013–2016TV-MA23mFreddie Thornhill (Sir Ian McKellen) and Stuart Bixby (Sir Derek Jabi) are an old gay uple who have been together for nearly fifty years.