'Will & Grace' Broke Ground for Gay Reprentatn—Can It Do It Aga? | GQ

'I WOULDN'T GET THIS ROLE TODAY': WILL & GRACE'S STRAIGHT 'GAY' STAR

If the show were beg st now, Eric McCormack spects he wouldn't land the role of gay lawyer Will Tman - and that would be jt fe wh him." name="scriptn * was will on will and grace gay *

If Will & Grace were beg st for the first time today, Eric McCormack nces, "I probably wouldn't get anywhere near this role"'s bee McCormack is straight, and this era of diversy and thenticy stg would be a bold, perhaps even foolish, cisn to st anyone but a gay actor a seri that puts the character's sexualy ont and he'd be out of a job this hypothetil scenar, the first "gay" man many middle Amerins weled to their hom is OK wh that.

"I thk wasn't a terrible thg 1998 that a straight guy played the role, but I'm glad that tim are changg, and I'm glad that nowadays a Will Tman would probably be st wh someone who is gay, " he says. "But do that mean that now when you walk to a stg room you have to state whether you are straight or gay? "The show has given me a chance to give back, " he says, cg some recent gay-related chary events at which he has appeared.

‘WILL & GRACE’ FANS ARE STILL UNSURE IF ERIC MCCORMACK IS GAY REAL LIFE

Will & Grace: Created by David Kohan, Max Mutchnick. Wh Eric McCormack, Debra Msg, Megan Mullally, Sean Hay. Gay lawyer Will and straight terr signer Grace share a New York Cy apartment. Their bt iends are gleeful and proud gay Jack and charismatic, filthy-rich, amoral sociale Karen." data-id="ma * was will on will and grace gay *

Probably the bt episo of the first season was "Will Works Out" where Will is terrified that one of his clients would fd out he was gay, and his own ternal homophobia shone through when he lled Jack a "fag. Is Eric McCormack gay? Bee Eric do play a gay man on TV many people believe that means he is gay real life.

And Eric is faiar wh what means to play such a public and beloved gay character on the screen. Yup, he's gay real life, too.

The rolutely private actor recently gave his first terview to gay newsmagaze The Advote after many nied requts. You're gonna shoot the gay guy down? The star of the popular, Emmy-wng gay s adds, "I feel like I've ntributed monumentally to the succs of the gay movement Ameri, and if anyone wants to argue that, I’m open to .

WILL AND GRACE STAR CONFIRMS HE’S GAY

In 2012, former Vice Print Joe Bin ced the NBC s Will and Grace as a reason for Ameri's "evolvg" attu on homosexualy 2012: "I thk Will and Grace probably did more to te the Amerin public than almost anybody has ever done so far. Broadst televisn the early 2000s was a powerful form of reprentatn wh work UPN and s Ain-Amerin geared programmg, diverse soaps like telenovela adaptatn Ugly Betty, and y, ss like Will and show, starrg a gay man and his straight female roommate, at least partially managed to te straight people on the ia that there's more than one type of gay person—albe rich, whe, affluent on.

There was Jack, the flamboyant one most people assumed gay men to be; then there was Eric McCormack's Will Tman, the mundane, everyman that tght straight people their next-door neighbor uld be gay. Will's portrayal has gone on to be the blueprt for most gay men on televisn sce then, whereas Jack is somehow seen as negative, and regrsive. Was he a gay mstrel show?

I've e to realize that Karen Walker was the te gay in of Will & Grace. As portrayed by Megan Mullally, Karen was the boozy, outspoken bch of the NBC s, often ed as a gay male surrogate the way that the women of Sex and the Cy uld often be.