Ross Mathews: Gay People 'Wanted Me Off TV' | HuffPost Voic

Contents:

• ROSS MATHEWS: GAY PEOPLE 'WANTED ME OFF TV'
• ROSS GAY
• ROSS GAY’S SECRETS FOR LIVG A MORE JOYFUL LIFE
• ROSS GAY
• ROSS GAY
• ROSS GAY
• ROSS GAY
• HOW ROSS GAY FDS JOY IN THE SMALLT OF 'DELIGHTS'

ROSS MATHEWS: GAY PEOPLE 'WANTED ME OFF TV'

When Ross Mathews started his reer as “Ross the Intern” on “The Tonight Show wh Jay Leno, ” there were only a small number of LGBTQ people on TV and gay men, Ross says, weren’t happy wh him reprentg them. Jefey Masters: I thk Jay Leno would be acced of gay bashg today.

He was potg out the obv, but he also put me on his show for 13 years, so there was a method behd the madns, I Thkg about you on Chelsea Lately and your show, I’m shocked by how recent was bee still felt subversive to see an out gay man on TV, one that’s not tryg to butch I jt never gave a flyg fuck what people thought or thk. I thk that me embracg what I am, which is this pl size, unapologetilly, openly gay person, woke some people How did you navigate beg visibly gay and not rg what people thought wh the fact that ’s not always safe to be perceived to be gay? Where even I, who was followg the North Star of beg gay, said, “Well, I gus I should try this bee that’s what I’m suppose to do.

ROSS GAY

” So, I did and wasn’t my cup of tea, but I tried When I’m out and I hear someone who sounds gay, I thk, “Oh, I’m safe here.

When I first started on The Tonight Show, I got a lot of hate mail and the majory of the hate mail was om gay people, sayg, “You’re settg the movement back. I’m embarrassed to be gay bee you’re reprentg .

ROSS GAY’S SECRETS FOR LIVG A MORE JOYFUL LIFE

They wanted me not to reprent them, gay people.

Sce Mathews, who jok, "I've been gay sce birth, " first appeared as Ross the Intern on The Tonight Show Wh Jay Leno, 's been part of his missn to be visible and reprent for those g up behd him. "I remember beg a kid a farm town and realizg I was gay and then askg myself, What do a gay grown-up person look like?

ROSS GAY

"I remember thkg, God, I have to s down and talk to him bee he knows I'm gay, jt bee, you know, I'm on TV.

"But I wonr if he's ever seen a gay uple or somethg. Ross Gay is terted Gay wants to unrstand Gay is cur about Gay studi joy. ~Ross Gay is the thor of four books of poetry: Agast Which; Brgg the Shovel Down; Be Holdg, wner of the PEN Amerin Lerary Jean Ste Award; and Catalog of Unabashed Gratu, wner of the 2015 Natnal Book Crics Circle Award and the 2016 Kgsley Tufts Poetry Award.

ROSS GAY

There’s an say Ross Gay’s new llectn, Incg Joy, that begs wh a discsn of his favore sports book, John Edgar Wiman’s Hoop Roots, a memoir told through the thor’s lifelong relatnship wh basketball.

Over the next eleven pag, Gay, a longtime hoop lover himself, offers a medatn on the bety of the pickup game, and how a good urt is a microsm of mocracy.

”Gay, a 48-year-old poet and profsor at Indiana Universy, has ma a reer of explorg the wonr to be found our everyday liv, notably his btsellg 2019 say llectn, The Book of Delights. ”Book ver of “Incg Joy” by Ross Gay.

ROSS GAY

Courty of Ross GayGQ: A word that up aga and aga your work is the word practice. Ross Gay: I started to thk about that word when I was dog The Book of Delights.

To which Ross Gay rponds word and ed, how n we not be joyful, pecially a moment like this? We practice tenrns and mercy part bee to unrstand that we are all sufferg is one qualy of what Ross Gay lls “adult joy.

Ross Gay: It is joy by which the labor that will make the life that I want, possible. Ross Gay is a profsor of English at Indiana Universy Bloomgton and a wrer of poetry as well as says. Gay: It’s sort of amazg to me.

ROSS GAY

Gay: [lghs] Yeah, totally. Gay: Right, yeah.

HOW ROSS GAY FDS JOY IN THE SMALLT OF 'DELIGHTS'

Gay: That’s a really good qutn. Gay: But ’s amazg, right? Gay: Wouldn’t turn to a monster.

Gay: In some ways. Gay: Verndale, Mnota.