Billy Crystal Portrayed First Openly Gay Ma Character on TV — si the 'Soap' Story

Contents:

• IS BILLY CRYSTAL GAY?
• BILLY CRYSTAL CLARIFI GAY MENTS, SAYS GRAPHIC SEX OF ANY KD ON TV TICKS HIM OFF
• BILLY CRYSTAL PORTRAYED FIRST OPENLY GAY MA CHARACTER ON TV — SI THE 'SOAP' STORY
• BILLY CRYSTAL: GAY SCEN ON TV GO 'TOO FAR'

IS BILLY CRYSTAL GAY?

Conservativ screamed and gays held their breath when satiril soap opera Soap premiered on September 13, 1977, th troducg the natn to Jodie Dallas, a gay man played by then-unknown Billy Crystal. While the right was worried about nebulo "erodg moraly, " gays feared a stereotypil portrayal.

In many ways, was the gay groups's propheci that me te: Jodie's ial proclivy for drsg as a woman and his suicidal tennci f a pejorative mould, and later stori volvg heterosexual love weren't necsarily the most progrsive eher. While some actors would have shied away om a gay character, Crystal went at full-throttle --on stage and July of 1978, Crystal told the newspaper The Hour, "I get teased a lot about playg Jodie, but 's ually good-natured and don't bother me a b. He jt wanted to make sure the motive wasn't rogatory: "I jt wouldn't want Jodie to kill for the wrong reason, like a homosexual rage.

He would also later bee more fortable wh gay pri and would even show a suicidal lbian the lavenr honor of Crystal's urage, and celebratn of Jodie, who, as one of the first gay characters on primetime* laid the groundwork for generatns of LGBT characters, some even more stereotypil than he, here are five clips of Crystal dog his thg Soap.

BILLY CRYSTAL CLARIFI GAY MENTS, SAYS GRAPHIC SEX OF ANY KD ON TV TICKS HIM OFF

(*While Jodie's the most well-known early gay character, the short-lived 1972 show The Corner Bar featured actor Vcent Schiavelli as a gay man named Peter Panama.

He was acced of homophobia. While promotg The Comedians at a panel for the Televisn Crics Associatn Wter Prs Tour, he was asked about his portrayal of Jodie Dallas, one of the first openly gay characters on televisn, on the groundbreakg seri Soap  the 1970s, as well as what he thought about progrs ma LGBTQ reprentatn sce.

BILLY CRYSTAL PORTRAYED FIRST OPENLY GAY MA CHARACTER ON TV — SI THE 'SOAP' STORY

After beg acced of makg homophobic remarks, Crystal eventually released a statement claimg his ments had been taken out of ntext, addg, "What I meant was that whenever sex or graphic nudy of any kd (gay or straight) is gratuo to the plot or story be a ltle too much for my taste.

Crystal, who played one of the first openly gay characters on primetime televisn Soap, was asked if playg gay was difficult for him at the time as well as his thoughts on what has happened to televisn the years sce. After some outlets blasted the edian for his remarks — which, out of ntext, uld appear antigay — The Hollywood Reporter asked Crystal to clarify his ments. “What I meant was that whenever sex or graphic nudy of any kd (gay or straight) is gratuo to the plot or story be a ltle too much for my taste, ” he told THR a statement.

BILLY CRYSTAL: GAY SCEN ON TV GO 'TOO FAR'

A few days ago, we had a s here that has a gay character and the word “groundbreakg” kept gettg tossed around. On Sunday, while promotg his new FX show "The Comedians" at a Televisn Crics Associatn Wter Prs Tour panel, Billy Crystal was asked about playg a gay role on the ABC show "Soap" the late '70s and how televisn has changed sce that his rponse, the edian talked about beg unfortable wh how sexualized some shows have bee and, dog so, employed a few phras like "a ltle too far for my tast" and "shove our face" that always trip my homophobia sensors and make me want to prott by grabbg every man sight by whatever appendage is handit and draggg them to a stud to stage a gay sex telethon that will be broadst to the livg rooms of every fay the, I wanted to give Crystal the benef of the doubt and I ially went out of my way to fd a way to exce what he seemed to be sayg.

Maybe he really wasn't separatg his displeasure wh viewg gay sex scen om his displeasure wh viewg straight sex scen? Most civilized, sane people don't want to be lled homophobic. Most people don't want to hear that they've done somethg or said somethg or thought somethg that uld be nsted as offensive to gay people -- pecially when they're our iends and our alli.

But, the fact of the matter is that we live a homophobic society and follows that most people -- cludg many gay people -- are gog to fall victim to homophobic thoughts or feelgs at some pot, even if they don't always regnize them as such. We've all been steepg this kd of thkg om the moment we arrived on this pla -- how uld we not be homophobic?

It don't mean that you're murrg gay people. It don't mean your mpaigng to take away gay people's rights.

It don't even mean that you're a homophobe. You n be the sweett, kst person and wre checks to PFLAG and have six gay iends and two gay brothers and have officiated your workout partner's gay weddg but if you believe that gay people simply tryg to live their liv (on televisn or off) are phg a "e" or if you thk we're tryg to force anyone to like our gay "liftyle" (si note: we don't e that word anymore, Billy), that's homophobic.

You're effectively sayg that beg gay isn't normative and that our "liftyle" is somethg you don't want phed on you. And that's homophobic.

You feel threatened -- whatever small, specific ways -- by gay liv, experienc or exprsns of affectn and that -- say along wh me -- is far as havg a problem wh anyone tryg to ph a "liftyle, " -- I thk we n all read between the l there. "When I poted out all of the above on my Facebook page on Monday, I was surprised to fd some people -- gay men, no ls -- challengg me. The rpons ranged om "you n't jt say someone is beg homophobic!

-- ll out homophobic thkg or statements when you enunter them, pecially when 's g om celebri who have very public platforms (and who should know better).

And that's exactly what Crystal did later his Xfy terview when he addrsed the fact that the gay journalist nductg the terview had been asked by others who attend the panel if he had found the edian's ments offensive:We live a very sry time many ways.

I don't thk he's a homophobe. Billy Crystal and Useful HomophobiaEven an actor who helped break down barriers for gay characters on televisn n still be grossed out by McNew/RtersTo unrstand jt how much progrs there's been when to pictns of gay people popular culture, helps to read part—part—of Billy Crystal’s ments at the Televisn Crics Associatn on Sunday.

Asked about his role on the ‘70s s Soap, he talked about how “ was awkward and was tough” to be the actor playg one of the first gay characters on work TV:I did ont of a live dience, and there were tim where I would say to Bob, “I love you, ” and the dience would lgh nervoly, bee, you know, ’s a long time ago, that I’d feel this anger.

”When some of the most-watched new work dramas of the past year (How to Get Away Wh Murr, Empire) promently feature gay characters, when one of the most popular ongog ss (Morn Fay) revolv around men married to each other, when an out gay man (Neil Patrick Harris) is enlisted to host the Osrs, 's good to remember when there was a time not too long ago when pictg any sort of same-sex affectn was met wh nervo lghter on 's not why Crystal's kickg up publicy right now, though.

’” The implitn as a lot of people saw : Crystal objects to the prence of gay love scen on quickly issued a statement sayg that he had been referrg to explic sex of all kds, heterosexual and not, and that he didn’t mean to imply that gay sex particular was beg “shove[d] our face.