Sopranos' Gay Character 'Johnny Cak' Kills Himself - Queerty

Contents:

• HOW GAY IS VO OM THE SOPRANOS?
• GAY ‘SOPRANOS’ MOBSTER FDS A B OF FAME
• THE GAY MOBSTER ‘SOPRANOS’ WRERS USED AS THE BASIS FOR VO SPATAFORE
• WAS PHIL LEOTARDO GAY?
• SOPRANOS‘ GAY CHARACTER ‘JOHNNY CAK’ KILLS HIMSELF
• JOE GANNASLI DISCS HIS LIFE DURG AND SCE PLAYG GAY MOBSTER VO SPATAFORE ON ‘THE SOPRANOS’
• ''THE SOPRANOS'': TONY'S GAY ISSU
• BARRY’S NOHO HANK: JT ANOTHER A SERI OF GAY TELEVISN MOBSTERS

HOW GAY IS VO OM THE SOPRANOS?

Gannasli is known to Sopranos watchers as “Gay Vo” (or even GaVo, certa exotic circl). Gannasli dancg gleefully a biker’s p a leather bar, or gog on the lam to a gay Shangri-La ( this se, “Live Free or Die” New Hampshire) and fallg love wh the handsome mtached ok om the der—“Johnny Cak”—that have given TV viewers that rare feelg that they are watchg somethg new.

Sure, there have been plenty of gay characters on televisn before: wacky Jack om Will & Grace, or David, the fsy unrtaker wh the hot p boyiend on Six Feet Unr. But the plight of Gay Vo has stirred up siar feelgs to those viewers felt when they first tuned on Sunday nights 1999 to see a Prozac-poppg Mafia boss spill his guts to his therapist. Gannasli’s character, Vo Spatafore, was revealed as a closeted gay man when, at the end of last season, viewers spied his head e bobbg up om the lap of a secury guard.

GANNASCOLI who had ially brought up the ia of a gay mobster to the show’s wrers durg the filmg of season three, after he’d read Murr Mache by Gene Mta and Jerry Capeci, about an openly gay member of the Gambo crime fay who was allowed to live bee he was a good earner. Early this season, the stage for tragedy was set when Vo was spotted by mobsters as he gallivanted full leather regalia a gay bar.

GAY ‘SOPRANOS’ MOBSTER FDS A B OF FAME

Gannasli was recently asked to serve as grand marshal at an Atlanta Gay Pri para, and he’s received letters om openly gay and closeted men appldg his portrayal.

“Beg the rtrant bs, you’re wh a lot of gays, ” he shgged. ”Drsed appropriate leather bar attire, Vo Spatafore — the heretofore closeted gay mobster — was sighted by a uple wiseguys who me by the sweaty S&M jot to llect their protectn money.

THE GAY MOBSTER ‘SOPRANOS’ WRERS USED AS THE BASIS FOR VO SPATAFORE

)Now that the gay story le is heatg up, the 47-year-old Brooklyn-born actor is immensely pleased, part bee was his ia to make Vo homosexual. “I wanted to make him sort of self-nial, self-loathg, a real gay hater.

”Gannasli’s suggtn was spired by the book “Murr Mache, ” about the Gambo fay, which had an openly gay member also named Vo. But even amid all the recent gay buzz, Gannasli knows the reactn to Vo won’t be all posive. Gannasli had read a book about a gay mobster who was an associate of New York’s Gambo crime fay.

Gambo associate Vo Arena had survived as a gay mobster the ’80s. There’s a mobster who’s gay and you don’t really see that.

WAS PHIL LEOTARDO GAY?

Though Green sound terted, Gannasli didn’t hear anythg more about until the murr of a gay Jersey mobster splashed across headl. A gay Jersey mobster’s murr ma ‘Sopranos’ wrers rensir.

Durg the trial of Jersey mobsters, a DeCavalnte soldier scribed murrg DeCavalnte boss Johnny Boy D’Amato for beg gay. “Nobody’s gonna rpect if we have a gay homosexual boss, ” the killer said urt.

SOPRANOS‘ GAY CHARACTER ‘JOHNNY CAK’ KILLS HIMSELF

One tertg theory floatg around the The Sopranos “universe” is that Lupertazzi boss Phil Leotardo was gay or bisexual. This theory basilly poss that Phil engaged homosexual acts while he was servg “20 years the n”.

Sce the 1960s, people have been g the phrase “hidg the closet” to scribe those who choose to nceal their homosexualy. In other words, they see as a ht that Phil has been hidg his own homosexualy. One theory is that Phil engaged homosexual acts while he was servg his lengthy prison sentence and that he now loath that part of himself.

When emerg that Vo is gay, Phil’s revulsn towards him seems bter, over-the-top and exaggerated.

JOE GANNASLI DISCS HIS LIFE DURG AND SCE PLAYG GAY MOBSTER VO SPATAFORE ON ‘THE SOPRANOS’

Is he thkg about his wife’s statement about how Vo is gog to hell for beg gay? Revisg the Sopranos "Gay Episo".

After that, was barely addrsed until the next season, when Vo was spotted at a gay bar by some guys nnected to the Jersey mob.

''THE SOPRANOS'': TONY'S GAY ISSU

Not only was a quiet, sweet story, but put the issue of homosexualy the mob the foreont, which wasn’t jt new to The Sopranos but to the mafia genre as a whole.

Back 2006, some The Sopranos fanbase reiled at the ia of a gay love story their favore show, but the arc did earn The Sopranos s only GLAAD nomatn. Also, the years sce, Vo’s fal arc has received kudos for addrsg gay relatnships a new light while also standg the tt of time as one of the most memorable storyl The Sopranos. “The actor who portrayed the gay lover of a closeted mobster on “The Sopranos” has died of a self-flicted gunshot wound New York, police said.

The 47-year-old former New York Cy firefighter gaed fame 2006 when he was st as short-orr ok Jim “Johnny Cak” Wowski oppose Joseph Gannasli, who played gay mobster Vo Spatafore on the h HBO show. The Sopranos was a show wh some wild twists, but arguably s most shockg revelatn was that Vo Spatafore, the portly po of the Aprile crew and one of Tony’s bt earners, was actually a closeted homosexual.

BARRY’S NOHO HANK: JT ANOTHER A SERI OF GAY TELEVISN MOBSTERS

He’d pched to one of the wrers after learng about a real-life gay mobster om a book he was readg, lled Murr Mache. Sce fdg fame on The Sopranos, Gannasli has published a novel, gotten married (“I got married late, and I said ‘I gotta get married quick here bee people are really gog to thk that I’m gay, ’ so was a sh job. You talked about them rporatg real-life thgs wh the actors to the show, but the whole Vo arc where he’s gay, that was your ia, right?