'Love, Victor' Season 2 Captur a Parent's Stggle to Accept Gay Son - Variety

Contents:

• ‘LOVE, VICTOR’ STAR SAYS GAY ROLE SPARKED HOMOPHOBIA OM HIS FAY, ATH THREATS
• LOVE, VICTOR REP: THE PERFECT LEVEL OF GAY
• WHY ‘LOVE, VICTOR’ STAR MICHAEL CIMO TOOK A GAY ROLE AGAST INDTRY ADVICE
• 'LOVE, VICTOR': HULU'S GAY TEEN ROM- WAS DUMPED BY DISNEY+: WHY THAT SENDS THE WRONG MSAGE
• HULU’S LOVE, VICTOR IS UGHT UP THE MYTHOLOGY OF WHE GAYNS
• CAN ‘LOVE VICTOR’ FY THE STEREOTYP ABOUT GROWG UP GAY?
• ‘LOVE, VICTOR’: THE SWEET GAY LATX TEEN LOVE STORY IS CANDY FOR THE SOUL
• GAY GAY
• ‘LOVE, VICTOR’ REVIEW: TV’S CUTT GAY ROM-COM MATUR SEASON 2
• IS MICHAEL CIMO GAY? WHO IS HE DATG?
• HOW ‘LOVE, VICTOR’ CAPTUR ONE PARENT’S STGGLE TO ACCEPT HER GAY SON (EXCLUSIVE)
• LOVE, VICTOR REVIEW: MORE GAY TEEN ANGST SOLID LOVE, SIMON SP-OFF
• LOVE, VICTOR PROV YOU DON'T NEED TO BE GAY TO PLAY GAY CHARACTERS

‘LOVE, VICTOR’ STAR SAYS GAY ROLE SPARKED HOMOPHOBIA OM HIS FAY, ATH THREATS

Michael Cimo, the straight star of Hulu’s gay-themed g-of-age seri “Love, Victor, ” says he has been attacked by some the LGBTQ muny and even some of his own fay members. In a new terview wh Attu, Cimo — who plays the tular Victor — says: “I got some homophobic ments — I kd of expected that to happen.

LOVE, VICTOR REP: THE PERFECT LEVEL OF GAY

“It’s weird … [the Latx muny] is liberal when to thgs about Latos, but when to gay rights, ’s like, eh, qutn mark, ” Cimo said the terview. ’”Cimo has said multiple terviews that he has been warned agast takg gay rol for fear of typestg.

Meanwhile, the young actor has also faced fierce blowback for takg a role that an out gay actor might have played. “But there are some straight actors who play gay characters, who are all about supportg LGBT rights while they’re promotg their project, but once they’re done, a year later, ’s kd of fotten.

”Straight actors playg gay rol has been the subject of bate for some time, often hgg on Hollywood’s history of forcg gay actors to the closet real life and offerg only limed chanc to explore the humany of gay characters on-screen. Grant, who received an Osr nomatn for playg a gay character “Can You Ever Five Me?, ” said: “I’ve always had that ncern... The transgenr movement and the #MeToo movement means, how n you jtify heterosexual actors playg gay characters?

WHY ‘LOVE, VICTOR’ STAR MICHAEL CIMO TOOK A GAY ROLE AGAST INDTRY ADVICE

Criss, who has famoly played queer characters cludg Andrew Cunanan “The Assassatn of Gianni Versace: Amerin Crime Story” and Hedwig “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” onstage, said he wouldn’t take gay rol anymore, bee “I want to make sure I won’t be another straight boy takg a gay man’s role. That is the biggt qutn on Victor Salazar’s md, as he grappl wh his evolvg inty as an openly gay (former) star athlete at Creekwood High.

After reachg a major tone his relatnship wh Benji, Victor — who was told last season that “there’s no one way to be gay” — is forced to nont another load qutn: Is he willg to sacrifice a part of his inty to fe a new one?

Then, at Benji’s after-school “fay and iends ncert, ” ’s llg Victor “the least gay gay person alive. If anyone has a problem wh , they n answer to me, ” Andrew says before Victor rightfully nonts him about not wantg to “risk your reputatn for the gay kid.

'LOVE, VICTOR': HULU'S GAY TEEN ROM- WAS DUMPED BY DISNEY+: WHY THAT SENDS THE WRONG MSAGE

“This is our way of sayg that you n be as gay as you want, whatever way that you want, and we will forever stand [by] you, ” Andrew says, before the other teammat the moment (but, hey, at least they are tryg! Sce the Love, Victor creators no longer had to wre and produce this send batch of episos for the fay-iendly ey and sensibili of a Disney+ dience, they really got to up the ante and explore sis to Victor post-g out that they weren't able to do prevly, and the show really benefted om this more thentic (and sometim msy) portrayal of young, morn queer life.Out got the chance to terview the seri' two leads, Michael Cimo (Victor) and Gee Sear (Benji), about returng to the Simonverse and talked about the show's reprentatn of queer people of lor, plex and realistic pictns of a gay teen uple, what 's like g out to relig parents, and so much more!"I totally enjoyed ," Cimo told Out when asked about gettg to play up Victor and Benji's msy, more sexual sis this season of Love, Victor. Specifilly, Victor's journey to disver his sexualy sets Love, Victor apart om Love, Simon a big the first few mut of Love, Simon, viewers learned the ma character, Simon, is gay, when the narratn allus to a csh he has on a garner.

HULU’S LOVE, VICTOR IS UGHT UP THE MYTHOLOGY OF WHE GAYNS

Victor's story, however, begs when he's a sophomore, and unlike Simon, he don't yet know what is sexualy is. Unlike Simon, whose journey the movie was centered on his g-out, Victor's Season 1 story was about a cliffhanger of a Season 1 fale — Victor's parents tellg him they're separatg and him tellg them he's gay return — fans are hopeful this is jt the start of Victor's story, and that a Season 2 will follow up wh his next, Victor Season 1 is streamg now on Hulu.

When 20th Century Fox released “Love, Simon” 2018, was the first major stud blockbter to center around a gay teen character g out. That’s why ’s both moralizg and unsurprisg to learn that the long-held belief that unknown actors shouldn’t play gay is still alive and well Hollywood; at least acrdg to promisg newer Michael Cimo, who plays a teenager disverg his queerns Hulu’s adorable romantic edy for young adults, “Love, Victor.

It’s almost impossible to image anyone advisg Cimo agast takg such a substantial role a high-profile project, but Cimo said the fear around playg gay — whether the ncern behd is real or imaged — persists among actors. “I’ve heard for years: ‘You shouldn’t take a gay role for your first big role bee then people are gonna thk you’re gay, or they’re gonna thk you only play gay rol.

CAN ‘LOVE VICTOR’ FY THE STEREOTYP ABOUT GROWG UP GAY?

Gone are the days when tablished A-list actors chafed at playg gay, as was mon before Tom Hanks broke that barrier “Philalphia” (1993). ) While this new trend n be a sometim tratg way to take opportuni om out gay actors, for Cimo, was enuragg. When addrsg the particular nuanc of homophobia the Latx muny, Cimo speaks om personal experience, havg wnsed firsthand his ’s g out stggl.

“It’s weird … [the Latx muny] is liberal when to thgs about Latos, but when to gay rights ’s like, eh, qutn mark, ” Cimo said.

‘LOVE, VICTOR’: THE SWEET GAY LATX TEEN LOVE STORY IS CANDY FOR THE SOUL

""Love, Victor" follows up on the 2018 movie "Love, Simon, " which was the first gay teen romantic edy ma by a major Hollywood stud.

Two nservativ — Neil Gorsuch and Chief Jtice John Roberts — surprised progrsive advot when they joed liberal lleagu supportg the screen, Ortiz hop that by showg a nservative Lato fay g to terms wh their loved one's LGBTQ inty, viewers n siarly see how attus toward gay, lbian and trans people are changg , who believ sexualy and inty are part of a lifelong journey that lls on people to be te to themselv, wants to liver posive msag about change and thenticy to viewers on and off screen.

"I don't want to put myself a box and put myself a posn where if I were to e out as bi or as gay 10 years om now, that I was fendg an inty that was beg te to myself. While Hollywood has broken new ground wh rerd LGBTQ reprentatn and nuanced gay storytellg, Walt Disney Co. " So I was disappoted, but not at all surprised, when Disney+ revealed Febary that "Love, Victor" – a seri spoff of groundbreakg 2018 gay movie "Love, Simon" – would no longer premiere on the fay-iendly service due to s "adult them.

GAY GAY

More:Watch the LGBTQ-iendly TV shows, films to honor Pri MonthHavg watched the 10-episo first season of "Love, Victor, " 's hard not to see Disney+'s choice to dump the g-of-age edy as wardly and homophobic; an easy way of passg off the show to sister service Hulu, whout any of the potential backlash om tolerant, pearl-clutchg "Love, Simon, " " Victor" centers on a wsome high-school boy stgglg to e to terms wh his sexualy.

‘LOVE, VICTOR’ REVIEW: TV’S CUTT GAY ROM-COM MATUR SEASON 2

But he quickly velops a secret csh on Benji (Gee Sear), an openly gay, almost illy dreamy barista at the ffee shop where Victor works part-time. One uld argue that "Love, Victor" is on Hulu, rather than Disney+, bee of subject matter that has nothg to do wh s ma character beg gay. Victor is gog through a siar crisis of personal and sexual inty: Though movg to a new town suggts he will be ee to explore his attractn to men, the sual homophobia he experienc at school, at home wh his fay reelg om the move, and by his awkward only iend Felix (Anthony Turpel); the nontatns wh the popular bully on the basketball team Andrew (Mason Goodg), and the social prsure (mixed wh ternalized homophobia) to date a popular girl, Mia (Rachel Naomi Hilson), all make his g of queerns slightly msier than many on screen reprentatns.

But over the season, Victor and Simon velop a rrponnce over Instagram DM, turng the character om the first movie to a gay mentor for the trated, sred, and nfed Victor.

IS MICHAEL CIMO GAY? WHO IS HE DATG?

Curly, by dog so, Love, Victor plit s own tentns regardg reprentatn, creatg and ntributg to a mythology of whe gayns. The Homo Sapiens Agenda, ma: to simply state that was the first g out movie, or the first gay teen movie, or the first gay movie whout a tragic endg would be an erasure of the queer media that me before, like The Edge of Seventeen, But I’m a Cheerlear, and The Wise Kids.

It was the first major, stud-released gay teen movie, and one that was, for all s mers, subject to thoughtful and valid cricism regardg the sulary of s queer perspectiv: s wealthy, whe, mascule prentg lead (played by a straight actor) whose primary goal was to assure the (possibly straight) dience that he was jt like them. As he dol out advice on gettg ed to high school a new place, negotiatg nservative parents, and figurg out feelgs for a guy at school (Benji, also whe), Simon be one of the primary reference pots for Victor’s ia of gayns. Such a bar begs to alce to a potentially poisono polil project of homonormativy, an ial of queerns that still subscrib to systems and stutns that privilege whe, cisgenr, middle class, heterosexual prentg queer people at the expense of queer and trans people who are not afford the same liberti due to stutnal and systemic jtic (ed by scholar Lisa Duggan).

HOW ‘LOVE, VICTOR’ CAPTUR ONE PARENT’S STGGLE TO ACCEPT HER GAY SON (EXCLUSIVE)

It may be a lot of untentnal baggage to slg around Love, Simon or Love, Victor, but given the plex history of creatn, distributn, and accs of the stori, ’s a necsary asterisk on the praise they receive (the film was ld for s portrayal of a gay youth) and cricisms they garner. But the voic rema subsumed to one person after the episo ends; Simon reverts back to a gay sage, and the acknowledgment of what his diverse roommat had to offer is fotten.

Love, Simon featur another character, ever so briefly, one whose prentatn of queerns was explicly dichotomized between Simon’s gayns. Ethan (Clark Moore), an open, gay, Black femme character whose self-assurance and lived- performance pensated for their mimal screentime. Simon is sure, the film, to separate himself om Ethan and the kd of gay that danc to Whney Hoton, but — cue sentimental mic — the end, he learns om Ethan.

LOVE, VICTOR REVIEW: MORE GAY TEEN ANGST SOLID LOVE, SIMON SP-OFF

Simon adms himself that his and Victor’s experienc are almost fundamentally different, a tac self-awarens on the show’s part as far as the lim of whe gayns beg “one size fs all.

LOVE, VICTOR PROV YOU DON'T NEED TO BE GAY TO PLAY GAY CHARACTERS

” And while there’s sure to be difference of experience wh the other characters of lor (who I thk would be quicker to adm their own fallibily), image the sense of terry they uld have, a psychologil pth afford to them ls equently than their whe gay unterparts. If there were a queer of lor leadg Victor to a gay promised land, as were, at least there’d be an unrstandg that queerns exists beyond what’s whe ont of . Michael Cimo as Victor Salazar ‘Love, Victor’ on Hulu (photo: Hulu) gay g of age stori clu certa standard elements: a teen boy (few lbian stori make mastream) regniz he is “not like other boys.

Victor, siarly, isn’t the stereotypil effemate, showtun-obssed gay teen, unlike his unterparts shows like “Ugly Betty” or “Glee.