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
• JAM CORN'S TURN AS A GAY MAN 'THE PROM' RID AS 'THE WORST GAYFACE A LONG, LONG TIME'
• JAM CORN'S TURN 'THE PROM' CRICISED AS 'THE WORST GAYFACE A LONG, LONG TIME'
• STEPHEN FRY CRICIS JAM CORN'S MP TAKE ON GAY ROLE FOR NETFLIX MIL
• JAM CORN IS FACG BACKLASH AFTER GETTG A GOLN GLOBE NOMATN FOR HIS "OFFENSIVE" PORTRAYAL OF A GAY MAN
• JAM CORN RECEIV BACKLASH FOR PLAYG GAY CHARACTER THE PROM
• SHOULD STRAIGHT ACTORS STILL PLAY GAY CHARACTERS? 'IT'S PLITED'

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.

IS JAM CORN GAY? RUMORS OF HIM BEG GAY

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.

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

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). “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.

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

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? 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).

STEPHEN FRY CRICIS JAM CORN'S MP TAKE ON GAY ROLE FOR NETFLIX MIL

But one cricism has been of Jam Corn who is not gay unlike like his The Prom character, Barry Glickman. The Prom, which is based on the 2018 Broadway mil of the same tle, stars Corn as Barry Glickman, a narcissistic Broadway actor who, along wh fellow Broadway star Dee Dee Allen, travels to middle Ameri to help a gay high school teenager whose prom has been ncelled bee of her sexualy.

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

Asi om Emma and her girliend, Alyssa Greene, Barry had one of Prom‘s more ser storyl about his sexualy and g out, which ma crics si-eye even more given that Jam Corn isn’t gay. After the premiere of The Prom, Corn was slammed on Twter for his “offensive” portrayal of a gay man, which many viewers found homophobic and stereotypil. “somethg about Jam Corn playg a gay guy feels eply homophobic to me, ” tweeted @InfyBaka.

Tweeted @christafoleyy, “jam rn, a straight man, sgg “we’re gonna help that ltle lbian” while pretendg to be a gay man jt feels so wrong on so many levels and keeps replayg my head. ” Wrote @aliceorwhateva, “Jam Corn not beg gay actually piss me off. Though Corn hasn’t rpond directly to his crics, he did tell Metro an terview December that he’s “proud” of his performance of a gay man.

JAM CORN RECEIV BACKLASH FOR PLAYG GAY CHARACTER THE PROM

He told Metro that Murphy, who is an out gay man, talked to him about his experienc wh his sexualy to help Corn play Barry. The way he led me through as a director, the way he led me through as a iend, the way he led me through as a gay man. Is Jam Corn Gay?

SHOULD STRAIGHT ACTORS STILL PLAY GAY CHARACTERS? 'IT'S PLITED'

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. 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.