Will & Grace is back. But has gay life on TV left behd? | Gareth McLean | The Guardian

is jack from will & grace gay in real life

Will & Grace: Created by David Kohan, Max Mutchnick. Wh Eric McCormack, Debra Msg, Megan Mullally, Sean Hay. Gay 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 Karen." data-id="ma

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WILL AND GRACE STAR CONFIRMS HE’S GAY

"I never have had a problem sayg who I am," the actor says his first terview wh gay magaze The Advote * is jack from will & grace gay in real life *

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 will, s new rnatn, most likely seem terribly old-fashned – not least that aspect that was s most groundbreakg at the began, Will & Grace’s reprentatn of gay life – through Will and Jack – was extraordary, pecially a work s. From Transparent to Orange Is the New Black, Morn Fay to Cucumber and Banana, Last Tango Halifax to Emmerdale, the sheer variety of gay life on the ntemporary screen is imprsive. Will (Eric McCormack) and Grace (Debra Msg) have been livg together off and on for years, and even though Grace isn't a newer to the gay scene, she still don't know every term The Gay Handbook™ an exclive new clip om this week's episo, "Emergency Contact, " Grace forc Will to "gayspla" the term "Platum-Star Gay" to her.

For those of you who don't know, a "Gold-Star Gay" is a gay man who has never had sex wh a woman—but a "Platum-Star Gay, " like Jack (Sean Hay), is a gay man who has never even e ntact wh a vaga bee they were born via new episo is noteworthy not only bee of Jack's reveal, but also bee 's the return of Grace's ex-hband, Leo (Harry Connick Jr. 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.

WILL & GRACE IS BACK. BUT HAS GAY LIFE ON TV LEFT BEHD?

Yup, he's gay real life, too. Sean Hay, who played flamboyant Jack McFarland on NBC's Will and Grace for eight years, has publicly nfirmed his * is jack from will & grace gay in real life *

" 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! 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. The rolutely private actor recently gave his first terview to gay newsmagaze The Advote after many nied though Will is gay, he sometim tri to pass as straight; he has at tim avoid admtg his sexual orientatn to people.

JACK EXPLAS HOW HE IS A "PLATUM-STAR GAY" IN EXCLIVE NEW CLIP FROM "WILL & GRACE""IT'S ALL HIS BOOK, 'MEN ARE FROM MARS, WHO CAR WHERE WOMEN CAME FROM.'"{FONT:NORMAL 800 1.2REM/1.2 "D BOLD",SANS-SERIF;TEXT-TRANSFORM:NORMAL;LOR:HER;DISPLAY:LE-BLOCK;PADDG-BOTTOM:6PX;POSN:RELATIVE;TEXT-TRANSFORM:UPPERSE;}{BACKGROUND:#89308A;BOTTOM:0;NTENT:'';DISPLAY:BLOCK;HEIGHT:2PX;LEFT:0;POSN:ABSOLUTE;RIGHT:0;-WEBK-TRANSN:ALL 0.2S EASE;TRANSN:ALL 0.2S EASE;WIDTH:100%;}{LEFT:51%;RIGHT:51%;WIDTH:0;}{FONT:NORMAL 800 1.2REM/1.2 "D BOLD",SANS-SERIF;TEXT-TRANSFORM:NORMAL;LOR:HER;DISPLAY:LE-BLOCK;PADDG-BOTTOM:6PX;POSN:RELATIVE;TEXT-TRANSFORM:UPPERSE;}{BACKGROUND:#89308A;BOTTOM:0;NTENT:'';DISPLAY:BLOCK;HEIGHT:2PX;LEFT:0;POSN:ABSOLUTE;RIGHT:0;-WEBK-TRANSN:ALL 0.2S EASE;TRANSN:ALL 0.2S EASE;WIDTH:100%;}{LEFT:51%;RIGHT:51%;WIDTH:0;}TVBY CHRISTOPHER RUDOLPHOCTOBER 9, 2017/11:10 {HEIGHT:HER;DISPLAY:-WEBK-BOX;DISPLAY:-WEBK-FLEX;DISPLAY:-MS-FLEXBOX;DISPLAY:FLEX;POSN:RELATIVE;-WEBK-FLEX-WRAP:WRAP;-MS-FLEX-WRAP:WRAP;FLEX-WRAP:WRAP;-WEBK-ALIGN-EMS:CENTER;-WEBK-BOX-ALIGN:CENTER;-MS-FLEX-ALIGN:CENTER;ALIGN-EMS:CENTER;-WEBK-BOX-PACK:CENTER;-WEBK-JTIFY-NTENT:CENTER;-MS-FLEX-PACK:CENTER;JTIFY-NTENT:CENTER;-WEBK-TRANSFORM-ORIG:CENTER;-MS-TRANSFORM-ORIG:CENTER;TRANSFORM-ORIG:CENTER;} IMG{HEIGHT:100%;WIDTH:100%;OBJECT-F:VER;}{HEIGHT:574PX;WIDTH:1020PX;}NBCBY CHRISTOPHER RUDOLPHOCTOBER 9, 2017 / 11:10 AM{"@NTEXT":","@TYPE":"NEWSARTICLE","HEADLE":"JACK EXPLAS HOW HE IS A \"PLATUM-STAR GAY\" IN EXCLIVE NEW CLIP FROM \"WILL & GRACE\"","THUMBNAILURL":","DATEPUBLISHED":"2017-10-09T15:10:28.000+0000","DATEMODIFIED":"2017-10-09T15:10:28.000+0000","IMAGE":{"@NTEXT":","@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","URL":","WIDTH":1920,"HEIGHT":1080},"URL":","THOR":{"@TYPE":"ORGANIZATN","NAME":"LOGO TV"},"MAENTYOFPAGE":{"@TYPE":"WEBPAGE","@ID":"},"PUBLISHER":{"@TYPE":"ORGANIZATN","@ID":","NAME":"LOGO TV","URL":","LOGO":{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT"}},"CREATOR":"CHRISTOPHER RUDOLPH","ARTICLESECTN":"TV"}{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}WILL (ERIC MCCORMACK) AND GRACE (DEBRA MSG) HAVE BEEN LIVG TOGETHER OFF AND ON FOR YEARS, AND EVEN THOUGH GRACE ISN'T A NEWER TO THE GAY SCENE, SHE STILL DON'T KNOW EVERY TERM THE GAY HANDBOOK™.{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}IN AN EXCLIVE NEW CLIP OM THIS WEEK'S EPISO, "EMERGENCY CONTACT," GRACE FORC WILL TO "GAYSPLA" THE TERM "PLATUM-STAR GAY" TO HER. FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DON'T KNOW, A "GOLD-STAR GAY" IS A GAY MAN WHO HAS NEVER HAD SEX WH A WOMAN—BUT A "PLATUM-STAR GAY," LIKE JACK (SEAN HAY), IS A GAY MAN WHO HAS NEVER EVEN E NTACT WH A VAGA BEE THEY WERE BORN VIA C-SECTN.CHRIS HASTON/NBCWILL & GRACE -- "EMERGENCY CONTACT" EPISO 103 -- PICTURED: (L-R) DEBRA MSG AS GRACE ADLER, HARRY CONNICK JR. AS LEO -- (PHOTO BY CHRIS HASTON/NBC){BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}THE NEW EPISO IS NOTEWORTHY NOT ONLY BEE OF JACK'S REVEAL, BUT ALSO BEE 'S THE RETURN OF GRACE'S EX-HBAND, LEO (HARRY CONNICK JR.), WHO GRACE IS SURPRISED TO LEARN IS STILL HER MEDIL EMERGENCY NTACT. ACRDG TO PHOTOS RELEASED OM THE EPISO, ADDN TO THE RETURN OF LEO, LRA KIGHTLGER IS ALSO BACK AS FAN FAVORE SASSY NURSE SHEILA.CHRIS HASTON/NBCWILL & GRACE -- "EMERGENCY CONTACT" EPISO 103 -- PICTURED: (L-R) LRA KIGHTLGER AS NURSE SHEILA, HARRY CONNICK JR. AS LEO, DEBRA MSG AS GRACE ADLER -- (PHOTO BY CHRIS HASTON/NBC){BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}HOW DO GRACE HANDLE HER RNN WH LEO AND WILL JACK EVER E NTACT WH A VAGA? WE ARE PRETTY SURE WE KNOW THE ANSWER TO THE SEND QUTN, BUT YOU WILL HAVE TO TUNE TO WILL & GRACE THIS THURSDAY TO FD OUT WHAT GO DOWN WHEN LEO BACK TO GRACE'S {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}WATCH THE EXCLIVE NEW CLIP {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;CLEAR:BOTH;}{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;MARG:0 TO;WIDTH:90%;M-WIDTH:288PX;MAX-WIDTH:1440PX;M-HEIGHT:194PX;}LATT NEWS

The groundbreakg NBC s helped normalize gay characters the 1990s. But s sharp-edged humor and stereotyp may feel out of step the inty polics age. * is jack from will & grace gay in real life *

Although openly gay to his iends, Jack never actually me out to his mother, fearg she will not be able to handle havg a gay son and "fall apart" if she fds out, even tellg her that he and Grace were once a uple. He has bee a baret sger[14][15][16], ge dancer[17], ter-waer[18][19], backup dancer to Jennifer Lopez[20] and then to Ja Jackson[11], assistant to Grace[21], a ndidate for the Manhattan Gay Men's Chos[22], a sal clerk at Banana Republic[23] and Barney's New York[24], a stunt nurse[25], a surfer[25], a playwright[26], a novelist[27], a mercial[28] and theater actor[29], an actg teacher[30], a magician[31], a junr executive[32] and a talk show host[33] at OutTV, before ultimately beg st as the lead the crime drama The Badge as Chuck Rafferty, a straight hard-boiled tective[34]. Strangely, Jack believ gay rights but seemgly disdas heterosexual as well as lbian relatnships, [41] sayg that "if God had tend man and woman to be together, he would've given them both penis".

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

If the show were beg st now, Eric McCormack spects he wouldn't land the role of gay lawyer Will Tman - and that would be jt fe wh him." name="scriptn * is jack from will & grace gay in real life *

Jack is also implied to be an animal lover, beg the owner of Guapo even before the begng of the seri, Kls Von Puppy sce the first season, and the fourth season, he and Karen bought Lamar, a horse who turned out to be gay.

Beg gay on TV was nsired so taboo that “Will & Grace” wrers waed until the send season to risk cludg a (most) same-sex, however, wh the legalizatn of gay marriage and “Transparent” and gay characters even poppg up on the Disney Channel, the qutn is not whether “Will & Grace” is too clive — too ahead of the culture — but whether is clive enough. Although the lovably uptight gay character at the center of the show, Will, played by Eric McCormack, is bt iends wh Grace, played by Debra Msg, he sometim mak quips that uld e across as misogynistic today’s climate.

The pass-me-the-remote mass are unlikely to want a civics lecture the form of a gay rights anizatns are hopg that the s serv as an aggrsive unterweight to Tmp-era tolerance, cludg the proposed ban on transgenr people servg the ary.

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

Almost exactly 20 years ago to the week, Eric McCormack, a 34-year-old jobbg Canadian actor bt known for his role the TV wtern Lonome Dove, and 29-year-old New Yorker Broadway actrs Debra Msg, who had played Jerry Sefeld’s girliend two episos of Sefeld, dned for the rol of gay lawyer Will Tman and his BFF flatmate Grace Adler an NBC s to be lled Will & dng for the parts were Sean Hay and Megan Mullally, both of whom lost out to McCormack and Msg, only to be lled back to play Will’s flamboyantly gay neighbour Jack and Grace’s dipsomaniac sociale “employee” Karen. At a st Q&A at Bafta, tular stars McCormack and Msg had to dash off early to appear on The Graham Norton Show: to judge by stctive and uproar ic timg of Hay and Mullally, Norton booked the wrong origal Will & Grace screened the UK on Channel 4 and ran for eight seasons between 1998 and 2005 and is creded wh changg the perceptn of gay people by no ls than the then US Vice Print Joe Bin, who said 2012: “I thk Will & Grace did more to te the Amerin public than almost anythg anybody has ever done.

Ined when the show began the Bill Clton era, gays were outlawed by the ary, gay marriage wasn’t legal and that there was somethg lled the Defence of Marriage Act to “exprs moral disapproval of homosexualy” if Ameri is a more tolerant natn now, large parts of the rt of the world have yet to tch up. Sean Hay played Will’s flamboyantly gay neighbour Jack (Andrew Eccl/NBC)The openg episo of the new Will & Grace, by ntrast, was an exercise Tmp-thumpg after Karen secured Grace a job reratg the Oval Office (which she accepts spe her polil misgivgs).

'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. 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.

While the show had earned much acclaim and many viewers over the years, also drew backlash for what some lled dulgence of stereotyp (pecially regardg Jack’s more flamboyant characterizatn) and bluntly sensive jok (pecially regardg anyone who wasn’t a whe gay man). Right om the jump, the show leaned to the fact that McCormack’s square-jawed Will seems exactly like the kd of leadg man viewers were ed to seeg on ss, explog that faiary to add more impact to the fact that Will is gay, and the most important woman his life is the bt iend he ed to date llege before he realized as much. Even if you put asi the qutnable “gay liftyle” distctn, this scriptn fails to take to acunt that Will & Grace’s backbone is a very specific kd of close iendship that n’t be divorced om s participants’ sexuali.

Kathleen Bryant, who’s 17 years old and intifi as a lbian, told me she found Will & Grace rens on TV when she was younger and creds wh showg her a world which beg gay wasn’t a problem, but jt an trsic part of life. In short, there’s no nyg that a major broadst work like NBC airg a primetime s that not only starred two gay characters but treated their timate liv as nuanced and plited was a huge al 1998 (though to be ank, the same is largely te today).

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* IS JACK FROM WILL & GRACE GAY IN REAL LIFE

Is Eric McCormack Gay? Pl More About the Will & Grace Star.

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