'Will & Grace' Helped Build Acceptance for Gay Characters - Variety

Contents:

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

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

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. 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.

WILL AND GRACE STAR CONFIRMS HE’S 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. The rolutely private actor recently gave his first terview to gay newsmagaze The Advote after many nied requts.

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 . 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.

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

Oddly enough, the producers believed Barrowman was "too straight" to play the character and thought McCormack was more nvcg as a gay man. To this day, "Will & Grace" is still nsired "one of the most succsful televisns seri wh gay prcipal characters" acrdg to the show's Wikipedia page. In an terview wh Gay Star News, Hay revealed that an attempt to lm the star's nerv durg a table readg of the script, he started "praisg her" to which she sarstilly rpond "Thank you.

" Fearg for his safety, Hayn remaed quiet about his personal life until 2010 when he publicly me out as homosexual.

" Dpe beg straight, McCormack was lled gay slurs bee "of urse, when two guys are that close... Durg the terview, host Megyn Kelly asked Turner "is te that you beme a lawyer-- and you beme gay-- bee of Will? " The crge-worthy moment only worsened when after awardg Turner wh tickets to see a live-tapg of the show, Kelly stated she was unsure of Turner's journey toward a law gree but believed "the 'Will & Grace' thg and the gay thg is gog to work out great!

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

In an terview wh Oprah, Sean Hay revealed his favore celebry meo was Matt Damon as Owen, a straight man tryg to sneak his way to the New York Gay Men's Chos and beat Jack out of the top spot.

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. 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).

'WILL AND GRACE' ACTOR ERIC MCCORMACK ADDRS DEBATE OVER STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAYG GAY CHARACTERS (EXCLUSIVE)

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.

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.

HOW ‘WILL & GRACE’S’ RELATABLE VIBE HELPED AUDIENC ACCEPT GAY CHARACTERS

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

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. 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 Wonrful all aroundThis is one of the bt edy ss ever ma. 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.

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

'" 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.

But for others, the characters fall short—Jack, particular, whose hilar high mp persona has been cricized as a sort of gay mstrelsy some circl.

Bee once Will and Jack kicked open TV's closet, there was no lookg NBC ma the cisn to add -creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick's bawdy ltle edy, the ultimate unrequed love story between terr signer Grace Adler (Debra Msg) and her nrotic gay lawyer BFF Will (Eric McCormack), to s stable of programmg 1998, there were no real gay characters on TV to speak of.

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

Prr to that, there had been a smatterg of gay characters a handful of seri, though they were always a supportg role—and often they befell some great tragedy while any realistic pictn of a love life was avoid at all sts. The characters were GINOs—Gay Name Only—and ually only when me time to die of when Will & Grace h the air, fally there were two gay men who did not pretend to be anythg other. And bee show bs is, above all else, jt that—a bs—work executiv were quickly realizg that puttg gay characters ont and center wasn't ratgs suici.

A year after the show premiered, the first "romantic" kiss between two gay characters would take place on Dawson's Creek. Neteen years ago, a gay man and his straight female iend moved together and changed televisn for... NBC’s farcil s Will & Grace buted 1998, at a time when gay characters were barely reprented on TV.

Its central uple wasn’t a will-they won’t-they romance, but a fiercely close iendship between gay lawyer Will (Eric McCormack) and his straight bt iend Grace (Debra Msg). It even dared to clu yet another gay man as a lead character Sean Hay’s melodramatic Jack (Sean Hay). It’s been creded wh shiftg a natn’s nscns toward greater tolerance of gay people, as Joe Bin said 2012 when g out support of gay marriage, and nmned for perpetuatg tired stereotyp, as some crics have been sayg for years.