Jam Corn The Prom: Offensive Gay Stereotype or Hammy Star Turn? – IndieWire

Contents:

• JAM CORN PROV WHY STRAIGHT ACTORS SHOULD THK TWICE BEFORE PLAYG GAY
• IS JAM CORN GAY? RUMORS OF HIM BEG GAY
• US WHE SUPREMACISTS FOUND GUILTY OF GAY PRI RT PLOT
• JAM CORN'S TURN AS A GAY MAN 'THE PROM' RID AS 'THE WORST GAYFACE A LONG, LONG TIME'
• JAM CORN ‘VERY PROUD’ OF SCEN NETFLIX’S MIL THE PROM AMID ‘GAY STEREOTYP’ BACKLASH
• JAM CORN IS FACG BACKLASH AFTER GETTG A GOLN GLOBE NOMATN FOR HIS "OFFENSIVE" PORTRAYAL OF A GAY MAN
• JAM CORN'S TURN 'THE PROM' CRICISED AS 'THE WORST GAYFACE A LONG, LONG TIME'

JAM CORN PROV WHY STRAIGHT ACTORS SHOULD THK TWICE BEFORE PLAYG GAY

Whenever the bate over whether straight actors should be allowed to play gay characters has reared s head (and wh time, that’s gone om every year to every week), I’ve found myself largely dismissive. As a gay viewer, I crave thenticy wh queer stori, preferrg them to be at least -wrten by queer creators and am forever wantg the spectm of shared experienc to be more diverse and, ccially, more specific, but when to those habg queer characters, I’m ls fsed. It’s the tale of a quartet of self-obssed stage actors who scend upon a small Indiana town the hop of boostg their public image by tryg to force a homophobic school system to lettg a stunt attend the prom wh her girliend.

On stage, the role of a flamboyantly gay larger than life Broadway star was embodied by flamboyantly gay larger than life Broadway star Brooks Ashmanskas, who the character was reportedly wrten around. But one of the most befuddlg stg cisns arguably ever, Murphy, an openly gay wrer-director-producer who has nsistently provid centre stage opportuni to LGBT actors (om Chris Colfer Glee to the ground-breakgly diverse st of Pose to his recent all-gay update of Boys the Band), cid to hire Corn, a straight actor yet to tly prove his worth film (he was somehow the most embarrassg element of last year’s Cats, a film ma solely of embarrassg elements).

IS JAM CORN GAY? RUMORS OF HIM BEG GAY

“Offensively misst” said Newsweek’s Samuel Spencer, the Telegraph’s Tim Robey wrote that ma him “embarrassed” to be gay while, most dramatilly yet accurately, Vany Fair’s Richard Lawson lled “one of the worst performanc of the 21st century” Streep and Jam Corn The Prom. It’s as if he himself has looked back but even further, back to the playground when the straight bulli would pick on the gay kid by performg outsized imprsns and as a rult, there’s a sort of meanns to the performance, as if he’s ridiculg what I image will be a large percentage of The Prom’s I fully doubt that was the tentn, there’s so ltle thought or even craft his work here that I’m not sure if there was any tentn volved at all.

But while Corn is excably bad here, more blame should lie at the feet of Murphy for not only choosg to st him the first place but for then allowg him to gayface que so grotquely.

I still believe that straight actors have the abily to play gay but orr to do so, there should be not only a basic ternal nversatn (Am I right for this?

US WHE SUPREMACISTS FOUND GUILTY OF GAY PRI RT PLOT

Would a gay actor, or perhaps on this ocsn almost anyone else, do this better? ) but also, at the very least, a vague sign of a nnectn to a muny outsi of their own (Corn’s ia of gayns is rooted not realy but 70s ss).

Is Jam Corn Gay?

Jam Corn has been mored to be gay sce 2011, when he me out as gay durg an terview wh Brish newspaper The Sun. He has never nfirmed nor nied beg gay. This isn’t the first time someone has tried to lk Jam Corn to homosexualy.

JAM CORN'S TURN AS A GAY MAN 'THE PROM' RID AS 'THE WORST GAYFACE A LONG, LONG TIME'

Back 2011, a tabloid reported that Jam had told iends he was gay. I don’t thk ’s anybody else’s bs, ” addg, “#gay #straight #bisexual #pansexual #queer #bi #lbian #transgenr #asexual #polyamoro #etc etc.

So, unls Andi Land reveals somethg about Jam Corn’s personal life, we won’t know for certa if he’s gay or not.

JAM CORN ‘VERY PROUD’ OF SCEN NETFLIX’S MIL THE PROM AMID ‘GAY STEREOTYP’ BACKLASH

We n only speculate whether Jam Corn is gay or straight.

If the mors prove te, then Jam uld be eher gay or bi.

JAM CORN IS FACG BACKLASH AFTER GETTG A GOLN GLOBE NOMATN FOR HIS "OFFENSIVE" PORTRAYAL OF A GAY MAN

Do you thk Jam Corn is gay? The backlash agast Jam Corn’s performance as a gay man Netflix’s new mil The Prom had already started before I'd had the chance to watch . One cric claimed was “gross and offensive, the worst gayface a long, long time…horrifilly bad”, while another chastised the Brish actor for “leang to effemate gay stereotyp every chance he gets” left me wh a problem: my sire to be ntrarian and my long-standg dislike of Jam Corn were ragg si me, an unstoppable force meetg an immovable object.

The plot is remiscent of Brish edy Pri, a story about queer activists om London who team up wh a group of Welsh mers their stggle agast Thatcher, except ’s so chey that mak Pri look like an Ingmar Bergman DO SO MANY GAY PEOPLE DISLIKE JAMES CORDEN?

Corn has been acced of homophobic behavur on more than one ocsn.

JAM CORN'S TURN 'THE PROM' CRICISED AS 'THE WORST GAYFACE A LONG, LONG TIME'

“Y’all would serly to subject me, a gay man, to a homophobic slur? The reason this stereotype exists is bee there are loads and loads of effemate gay men, and there’s nothg wrong wh Corn’s character is jt an affable, mp, fat gay guy.

I image the character would still have been received by some as an “offensive stereotype” had he been played by a gay actor. Dcribg Corn’s performance as “gayface”, meanwhile, is more offensive than anythg the film. Even if you accept that a straight man playg a gay character badly is an appallg transgrsn, this is not equivalent to blackface.