Will and Grace Star Confirms He's Gay - Us Weekly

Contents:

• 'I WOULDN'T GET THIS ROLE TODAY': WILL & GRACE'S STRAIGHT 'GAY' STAR
• WILL AND GRACE STAR CONFIRMS HE’S GAY
• A GAY/DECEMBER ROMANCE
• ‘WILL & GRACE’ FANS ARE STILL UNSURE IF ERIC MCCORMACK IS GAY REAL LIFE

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

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. 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. Out of the four ma Will & Grace st members, the tular pair were the rerved on: openly gay lawyer Will Tman (Eric McCormack) and his (straight-intifyg) terr signer bt iend Grace Adler (Debra Msg).

One of the first work seri to regularly feature homosexual characters, Will & Grace was a top-rated h for most of s 1998-2006 n on NBC, wng an Emmy Award for Outstandg Comedy Seri and more trophi for all four members of the ma st.

WILL AND GRACE STAR CONFIRMS HE’S GAY

When Will & Grace premiered 1998, was downright revolutnary that a major broadst work would air a primetime show which two of s four ma characters (Will Tman and Jack McFarland) were openly gay men. "I didn't have the tools at such a young age to al wh the ramifitns of g out as gay a huge public way. Hay didn't publicly e out as a gay man until 2010, four years after Will & Grace wrapped s ial n.

After he saw the Will & Grace pilot 1998, Deamer says he felt "chagred, embarrassed, and vastated" when he realized that the character based on him was picted as "flamboyantly gay, nstantly over the top, promiscuo, and irrponsible. Tracy Gaydos... Artistic director: The Gay Men's Chos of Los Angel (1 episo, 2002).

Executive director: The Gay Men's Chos of Los Angel (1 episo, 2002). As The Hollywood Reporter poted out s review, this marked the first time a TV s foced on the iendship between a gay man (Will Tman, played by Eric McCormack) and a straight woman (Grace Adler, portrayed by Debra Msg).

A GAY/DECEMBER ROMANCE

Meanwhile, "Will & Grace" also beme a go-to seri for A-list gut stars, cludg such gay ins as Madonna and Cher. As Entertament Weekly reported, Connick was st as assistant district attorney David Han, who was briefly beme a love tert for Detective Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargay) when they were assigned to work a se together. In 2013, Baldw lnched his own MSNBC talk show, which was ncelled after Baldw ma a homophobic ment about a photographer.

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?

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

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 . 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.

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. Beg the first show to feature two promently gay characters, the seri foced on the liv of the ma st and how they navigated their reers and relatnships. The album featured gay classics like “I Will Survive, ” and songs by gut stars of the show like Cher’s “Gypsi, Tramps and Thiev.

Oddly enough, the producers believed Barrowman was "too straight" to play the character and thought McCormack was more nvcg as a gay man. In realy, Barrowman is gay while McCormack is straight.