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

Contents:

• 'I WOULDN'T GET THIS ROLE TODAY': WILL & GRACE'S STRAIGHT 'GAY' STAR
• ‘WILL & GRACE’ FANS ARE STILL UNSURE IF ERIC MCCORMACK IS GAY REAL LIFE
• WILL AND GRACE STAR CONFIRMS HE’S GAY
• WILL & GRACE BROKE GROUND FOR GAY REPRENTATN—CAN IT DO IT AGA?
• ‘WILL & GRACE’ IS BACK. WILL ITS PORTRA OF GAY LIFE HOLD UP?
• HOW WILL & GRACE PAVED THE WAY FOR GAY CHARACTERS ON TV

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

TV Seri1998–2020TV-PG22mGay lawyer Will and straight terr signer Grace share a New York Cy apartment.

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

Their bt iends are gleeful and proud gay Jack and charismatic, filthy-rich, amoral sociale lawyer Will and straight terr signer Grace share a New York Cy apartment.

WILL AND GRACE STAR CONFIRMS HE’S GAY

Their bt iends are gleeful and proud gay Jack and charismatic, filthy-rich, amoral sociale productn, box office & pany Episos246Vios54Funny Women of TelevisnFunny Women of TelevisnWe salute the brilliant women behd all those unfettable lghs on the small the galleryMore like thisReview Good show!

Everyone remembers the basics: bt iends Will, a gay man, and Grace, a straight woman, live and love Manhattan wh their quirkier iends Jack and Karen. Mutchnick and Eisenberg dated real life, and then beme close iends after Mutchnick revealed he was gay.

She also told Kg that McCormack didn't origally want to play a gay character. Actor Sean Hay, who portrayed openly gay character Jack on Will & Grace, didn't e out real life until five years after the show end. More recently, Hay has revealed that he's "ashamed and embarrassed" he stayed the closet for so long when he might have ma a difference young gay people's liv by g out sooner.

WILL & GRACE BROKE GROUND FOR GAY REPRENTATN—CAN IT DO IT AGA?

Fellow executive producer David Kohan and producer-director Jam Burrows agreed, notg that the show had troduced and normalized gay people for a swath of the public. In fact, when the show was first pched, the ia was that would revolve around three sets of upl, one of whom was a gay man and a straight woman who lived together. Like Will and Grace, Max and Ja were an em their younger years, only for him to e out as gay when they were both at universy.

A lot of actors were the nng for the tle charactersAmong them, apparently, were John Barrowman, who claimed he was turned down for the role for not beg gay enough. Several big nam appeared on the show before they land their biggt TV rolNeil Patrick Harris and Sean Hay Will & GraceNBC via Getty ImagYears before How I Met Your Mother me along, Neil Patrick Harris appeared as an “ex-gay” Will & Grace, while a pre-Grey’s Anatomy Patrick Dempsie played a love tert of Will’s an early season.

‘WILL & GRACE’ IS BACK. WILL ITS PORTRA OF GAY LIFE HOLD UP?

While other gut stars were already A-list gay insMadonna and Megan Mullally Will & GraceNBC via Getty ImagJa Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, Sir Elton John and, of urse, Cher (twice! ”Debra Msg then tweeted: “I’m thrilled Bin has e out support of gay marriage and am beyond proud of what he said #PROUD”20.

The ensemble edy seri featured two gay characters—lawyer Will Tman (Eric McCormack) and aspirg actor Jack McFarland (Sean Hay)—and their bt iends, terr signer Grace Adler (Debra Msg) and eccentric sociale Karen Walker (Megan Mullally), whose fun-filled antics were enjoyed by lns of viewers for eight seasons on NBC. Kohan was a mutual iend who watched their relatnship change and mature over the only relatnship NBC executive Warren Ltlefield was terted , however, was the one wh the gay man livg wh the straight woman. When Mutchnick and Kohan wrote the pilot, they jt foced on the Will and Grace two creators named the show Will & Grace based on a ncept the Jewish philosophy book I and Thou by Mart Buber, which he says that one needs the "will" to go after the prence of the Eternal and the "grace" to receive wag to hear about the fate of their show after submtg their pilot script, the two men sent Warren Ltlefield fax listg the box office numbers of The Birdge and My Bt Friend’s Weddg, two h movi featurg gay Hay was at the Sundance Film Ftival Park Cy, Utah when a work stg executive faxed him the pilot script for Will & Grace after seeg him Billy’s Hollywood Screen Kiss.

'" The next day, she agreed to take the Barrowman, who is gay, said he was told by Will & Grace producers that he was ‘too straight’ to play Will. ” In 2014, The Smhsonian Instute add ems om Will & Grace as part of their llectn documentg the history of gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr dividuals. 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.

HOW WILL & GRACE PAVED THE WAY FOR GAY CHARACTERS ON TV

"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.

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.