Colton Hayn: MTV Nearly Rejected Me for 'Teen Wolf' Over Gay Photos - Variety

Contents:

• COLTON HAYN CONFIRMS HE'S GAY: 'IT TOOK ME SO LONG TO GET TO THIS POT, BUT I'M DOG SO GOOD'
• COLTON HAYN: 'I WAS TOLD THAT MY DAD KILLED HIMSELF BEE HE FOUND OUT I WAS GAY'
• COLTON HAYN WAS TOLD HE WAS 'TOO GAY' WHEN HE GOT TO HOLLYWOOD — AND WAS ACHED TO HI
• COLTON HAYN SAYS HE'S STOPPED GETTG ROL SCE G OUT AS GAY
• COLTON HAYN WAS TOLD HE WAS 'TOO GAY' WHEN HE GOT TO HOLLYWOOD — AND WAS ACHED TO HI
• COLTON HAYN SAYS HE ALMOST DIDN’T GET ‘TEEN WOLF’ ROLE OVER GAY MAG
• COLTON HAYN: MTV BOSS NEARLY REJECTED ME FROM ‘TEEN WOLF’ OVER PAST GAY PHOTOSHOOT
• COLTON HAYN SAYS HE ALMOST WASN'T ST TEEN WOLF BEE OF GAY MEN'S MAGAZE SHOOT HE DID
• "I'M HAPPIER THAN I'VE EVER BEEN"COLTON HAYN CONFIRMS HE’S GAY
• COLTON HAYN SAYS HE IS GAY AND 'HAPPIER THAN EVER'
• 'ARROW' STAR COLTON HAYN OPENS UP ABOUT BEG GAY HOLLYWOOD

COLTON HAYN CONFIRMS HE'S GAY: 'IT TOOK ME SO LONG TO GET TO THIS POT, BUT I'M DOG SO GOOD'

Colton Hayn Confirms He's Gay: 'It Took Me So Long to Get to This Pot, but I'm Dog So Good'.

COLTON HAYN: 'I WAS TOLD THAT MY DAD KILLED HIMSELF BEE HE FOUND OUT I WAS GAY'

In this week’s issue of Entertament Weekly, the former Arrow star publicly addrsed his sexualy for the first time, officially g out as gay.

Speculatn started January after he reblogged a fan’s Tumblr post about his “secret gay past” and rpond: “Was a secret? “People who are so judgmental about those who are gay or different don’t realize that actg 24 hours a day is the most exhstg thg the world. Though Colton Hayn said that publicly g out as gay has ma him happier than ever, was a btersweet end to a longtime stggle that began at home.

COLTON HAYN WAS TOLD HE WAS 'TOO GAY' WHEN HE GOT TO HOLLYWOOD — AND WAS ACHED TO HI

’ But I was told that my dad killed himself bee he found out I was gay. Though Hayn has known that he was gay sce the first gra, he veiled his sexual orientatn for fear that would negatively impact his reer.

COLTON HAYN SAYS HE'S STOPPED GETTG ROL SCE G OUT AS GAY

“Then, all of a sudn, I’m the worst, I’m a terrible person, and I’m a shame to the gay muny.

In an emotnal Instagram post over the weekend, the 32-year-old actor shared an image of the March 2006 ver of XY Magaze, a long-nng, gay publitn. "Partly bee so many ppl Hollywood told me I would never work as an openly gay actor, but part of was bee I was credibly ashamed.

COLTON HAYN WAS TOLD HE WAS 'TOO GAY' WHEN HE GOT TO HOLLYWOOD — AND WAS ACHED TO HI

""Beg gay is worth celebratg, " Colton nclud his heartfelt post before wishg all of his followers and supporters a happy Pri Month.

After speculatn about his sexualy started circulatg onle, Colton cid to publicly and openly live his tth 2016, and sce then, he has regularly been bookg projects as a film and TV actor and has bee a great example of what means to be an out and proud gay man. But I felt like I was lettg people down by not g forward wh the rt of what I should have who are so judgmental about those who are gay or different don't realize that actg 24 hours a day is the most exhstg thg the world, " Colton told Entertament Weekly at the time. "RELATED | Colton Hayn, Elt Glazer Are Workg On a TV Show About InstaGays.

In a new first-person say, Colton Hayn shar his experience of navigatg Hollywood as a gay teen and now actor, 33, om MTV’s Teen Wolf and the CW's Arrow, wr about his heartbreakg journey, g to L. He faced moralizg experienc along the way — like beg ached to be ls gay and beg directed to act out graphic sex scen. "To be a gay actor Hollywood, even 2021, is to be undated wh mixed msag: Consumers are mostly straight, so don’t alienate them, " Hayn, who officially me out 2016, wr a Vulture say.

COLTON HAYN SAYS HE ALMOST DIDN’T GET ‘TEEN WOLF’ ROLE OVER GAY MAG

"But lots of the cisn-makers are gay, so play that game!

That year, he began go-go dancg at a gay bar Wicha and "felt at home there. " The next year, he got his first molg agent and he and his then-boyiend, Jay, posed for a gay magaze lled XY. Then the owner of a management pany, who Hayn lls "Brad" for the story, exprsed tert potentially reprentg immediately, Brad told Hayn, "We’re fely gog to have to change your mannerisms, " sayg the way the openly gay teen spoke and stood were too "theater, " which was " for gay.

COLTON HAYN: MTV BOSS NEARLY REJECTED ME FROM ‘TEEN WOLF’ OVER PAST GAY PHOTOSHOOT

Gay, " Hayn was told. He later looked at the ntact and was for “, " a se for sex said he knew beg an actor wouldn't be easy, but he didn't know that "the thg that ma me valuable private — my nspicuoly gay sexualy — was a liabily as I tried to make my way through the dtry.

" Hayn set the scene for the time, the mid-ghts, "when sual homophobia was still a regular punch le on TV ss, Morn Fay wouldn’t premiere until a few years after I arrived L. There are still few gay leadg men Hollywood who are out of the closet.

I practiced speakg wh a fold Post- note unr my tongue to teach me to make my S sounds ls sibilant, sce the softns of them ma me sound gay. However, "I unrstood bee was explaed to me repeatedly — by managers, agents, publicists, executiv, producers — that the only thg standg between me and the reer I wanted was that I was gay. He said his handlers would "send cease-and-sist letters" to any webs that rurfaced his old XY gay magaze photo shoot pix.

COLTON HAYN SAYS HE ALMOST WASN'T ST TEEN WOLF BEE OF GAY MEN'S MAGAZE SHOOT HE DID

Now, the only dns I get are for gay characters, which rema sparse.

It’s no different for the young gay actors I see g up today, tryg to make a system that isn’t built for them. "He wrote about those "mixed msag" for gay actors Hollywood, and how he qutns where he would be — personally and profsnally — had he jt gotten to be himself when he arrived Hollywood stead of hidg the real him.

I began go-go dancg at a gay bar Wicha that same year — fake ID hand — after sneakg one night wh a few stmat om my muny-theater program.

"I'M HAPPIER THAN I'VE EVER BEEN"COLTON HAYN CONFIRMS HE’S GAY

When I got a msage on Myspace 2005 askg if my then-boyiend, Jay, and I would pose for a gay magaze lled XY, I didn’t thk twice.

” Co for gay.

Clockwise om top left: 2006: Hayn’s photo shoot appears the gay men's magaze XY. Your voice, your mannerisms — they’re still too … gay. The thg that ma me valuable private — my nspicuoly gay sexualy — was a liabily as I tried to make my way through the dtry.

COLTON HAYN SAYS HE IS GAY AND 'HAPPIER THAN EVER'

This was an era when sual homophobia was still a regular punch le on TV ss.

(She mt have known I was gay, but we never spoke about . I unrstood bee was explaed to me repeatedly — by managers, agents, publicists, executiv, producers — that the only thg standg between me and the reer I wanted was that I was gay.

I’m eternally grateful to the handful of gay men who created opportuni for me: Jeff Davis, Greg Berlanti, and Ryan Murphy.

'ARROW' STAR COLTON HAYN OPENS UP ABOUT BEG GAY HOLLYWOOD

But people also published thk piec sayg had taken me too long; another gay actor implied the way I’d done was wardly.