Love, Victor: Why Michael Cimo Took Gay Role Agast Indtry Advice – IndieWire

Contents:

• WHEN GEE MICHAEL ME OUT AS GAY ON LIVE TV AND SPIRED A GENERATN
• ‘LOVE, VICTOR’ STAR SAYS GAY ROLE SPARKED HOMOPHOBIA OM HIS FAY, ATH THREATS
• IS MICHAEL BART GAY? OR IS JT A RUMOR?
• GAY STEREOTYP: ARE THEY TE?
• WHY ‘LOVE, VICTOR’ STAR MICHAEL CIMO TOOK A GAY ROLE AGAST INDTRY ADVICE
• YOUNG & RTLS’ CHRISTIAN JUL LEBLANC UNPACKS THE BAGGAGE OF HOMOPHOBIA: ‘I STILL LIVE WH THE LEGACY OF THAT AS A GAY MAN’
• WATCH: MICHAEL B. JORDAN FALLY SPEAKS OUT ABOUT GAY RUMORS
• SCIENTISTS MAY HAVE FALLY UNLOCKED PUZZLE OF WHY PEOPLE ARE GAY

WHEN GEE MICHAEL ME OUT AS GAY ON LIVE TV AND SPIRED A GENERATN

Addnally, his character (who the origal seri had been portrayed as effemate and a fan of fashn but otherwise left ambiguo due to the time of airg) was ma explicly gay as we see him gh over boys wh Penny’s iends. Michael is one of the first black gay characters on televisn wh Benson om Kipo and the Age of Wonrbeasts beg the only other animated example at this time. When Michael was an ambiguoly gay si character, this was one thg but wh him now beg explicly gay the unacceptg father transforms to another part of the stereotype.

Makg him the basketball team's star player is a great start, but we only get to see that part of him the episo’s ld open and th the fashnable effemate gay character is still the domatg sentiment viewers are likely to take away om Michael.

As stated, there are very few black gay characters animatn, and puttg him ntrast wh Benson om Kipo and the Age of Wonrbeasts leav wh a more satisfyg outlook. Sure, stereotypil pictns of whe gay men have been on televisn for s, but black gay men rarely get the same spotlight th the impact is not que the same.

‘LOVE, VICTOR’ STAR SAYS GAY ROLE SPARKED HOMOPHOBIA OM HIS FAY, ATH THREATS

Michael’s character nnot be so simply rced to a good or bad portrayal of a black gay character, but n still be criqued for a lack of nuanc. We certaly n’t expect perfectn, but we n go forward wh the hop that Michael is allowed to velop to a plex character wh more to him than gay stereotyp and vague elaboratns on tras he posssed the origal seri. Gee Michael appeared on televisn 1998 revealg he was gay for the first time and spirg the world wh the words: "I don’t feel any shame whatsoever.

IS MICHAEL BART GAY? OR IS JT A RUMOR?

Watch: Gee Michael's last ncert - his fal words were heartbreakgly poignant"I spent the first half of my reer beg acced of beg gay when I hadn’t had anythg like a gay relatnship. And neher do I thk I should, " he Gee Michael's heartbreakg poetry at 11-years-old prov the star's early talentJim go on to ask Gee about his life-changg reveal, sayg: "Was a difficult cisn for you to e out publicly about beg gay? "And I’m perfectly prepared to believe that as long as I am tthful to myself and tthful to the people who are out there wh my mic then I have nothg to fear, " he Moret has sce said of the famo terview: "Gee Michael believed the Brish tabloids were gog to out him as gay and he wanted to beat them to the punch and he me out to me, his own words, his own way, "After g out as gay, Gee Michael beme a public activist for HIV and AIDS, shg a light on the plight of sufferers worldwi and donatg lns to charable throughout his life.

GAY STEREOTYP: ARE THEY TE?

”In March, some men will cry the need for an Internatnal Women’s Day, celebrated on the is Pri Month, a time to reflect on and celebrate lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer history. There is a level of social and systemic privilege not afford to many members of the LGBTQ muny North Ameri, and certaly many untri around the is herently polilPri has been celebrated every year June sce 1970 after the 1969 Stonewall rts New York, when police raid the Stonewall Canada, Toronto’s Pri was lnched siar fashn after protts epted when police raid four bathho Febary 1981 and arrted hundreds of gay motive has always been — and should rema — polil. The slg back of hard-earned rights and protectns of LGBTQ people, particularly transgenr people, is difficult to when straight people ask why there is a need for gay pri or wonr why there aren’t straight pri celebratns, feels a lot like they are sayg ntributns by LGBTQ people — a mory group that fac nstant adversy — are simply not worthy of regnn.

Michael Cimo, the straight star of Hulu’s gay-themed g-of-age seri “Love, Victor, ” says he has been attacked by some the LGBTQ muny and even some of his own fay members. “It’s weird … [the Latx muny] is liberal when to thgs about Latos, but when to gay rights, ’s like, eh, qutn mark, ” Cimo said the terview. “But there are some straight actors who play gay characters, who are all about supportg LGBT rights while they’re promotg their project, but once they’re done, a year later, ’s kd of fotten.

WHY ‘LOVE, VICTOR’ STAR MICHAEL CIMO TOOK A GAY ROLE AGAST INDTRY ADVICE

”Straight actors playg gay rol has been the subject of bate for some time, often hgg on Hollywood’s history of forcg gay actors to the closet real life and offerg only limed chanc to explore the humany of gay characters on-screen. Criss, who has famoly played queer characters cludg Andrew Cunanan “The Assassatn of Gianni Versace: Amerin Crime Story” and Hedwig “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” onstage, said he wouldn’t take gay rol anymore, bee “I want to make sure I won’t be another straight boy takg a gay man’s role.

Heartbreakg reason Gee Michael kept his sexualy secret for years before g out 1998The star nfsed he didn't have a gay relatnship until the age of 27 - but didn't e out for another eight yearsGee Michael 1984, when he was a member of the band Wham!

YOUNG & RTLS’ CHRISTIAN JUL LEBLANC UNPACKS THE BAGGAGE OF HOMOPHOBIA: ‘I STILL LIVE WH THE LEGACY OF THAT AS A GAY MAN’

In ndid terviews, rerd a apart, he revealed how his mother's welfare was a key factor keepg his sexualy quiet - and that he had spent half of his reer beg "acced" of havg gay relatnships.

WATCH: MICHAEL B. JORDAN FALLY SPEAKS OUT ABOUT GAY RUMORS

Speakg on Rad 4's Dert Island Discs 2007, he explaed: "So firstly, unrstand how much I love my fay and that AIDS was the predomant feature of beg gay the 1980s and early 90s as far as any parent was ncerned. Here 2022 we’d like to thk that pop mic has shed s old prejudic — that a gay mician would no longer have to nont the kds of choic Michael did. ”Acrdg to Gav, “Olr” was Michael’s favore of his albums — and also the one where “gay people knew Gee was speakg to them, ” even if s sometim-d language may have limed s broar standg as a queer sger’s attempt to ntrol the way his work was perceived — to ntrol the way he himself was perceived — was a through le his life, and remas one now that he’s gone.

15, 2006 — -- Gay activists often cricize media verage of gay pri paras, sayg, rrectly, that the media foc on the extreme, the more flamboyantly feme men and very mascule women. Not all straight men are bad drsers, " he is rearch that suggts gay men do prefer certa profsns, like fashn, terr sign and hair lorg, and that lbians are more likely to prefer sports and the ary. Rearchers say 's bee lbians, on average, are attracted to more mascule occupatns, and gay men tend to prefer more feme is te that hostily toward gay people drove many away om some other profsns.

"Whether you work, you know, as an artist or a sger or a dancer, those are all really creative plac where gay people are embraced, " Krsley saidIncreasgly gay people are visible every profsn. And probably has to do wh the of sexual orientatn and early effects of hormon on the bra, " Bailey did a survey of profsnal dancers and found half the men were gay.

SCIENTISTS MAY HAVE FALLY UNLOCKED PUZZLE OF WHY PEOPLE ARE GAY

You n tell far better than chance who's a gay man om jt listeng to him say four sentenc, " Bailey Bailey's help, "20/20" ran a tt 2004 to see if people uld tell who was gay and who was straight. The man who most people thought was straight was actually people do thk that gay men are more promiscuo than straight men, and fact, Bailey said, gay men do have more sex partners. "I thk that the typil straight man would have as many sex partners as the typil gay man if he uld, " Bailey, we asked Bailey, isn't stereotypg harmful?

When Gee Michael me out as a gay man an exclive terview wh CNN April 1998, public attus about homosexualy were far different om how they are today.