Sopranos' Gay Character 'Johnny Cak' Kills Himself - Queerty

Contents:

• BARRY’S NOHO HANK: JT ANOTHER A SERI OF GAY TELEVISN MOBSTERS
• GAY ‘SOPRANOS’ MOBSTER FDS A B OF FAME
• HOW GAY IS VO OM THE SOPRANOS?
• ‘LOVE, VICTOR’ STAR SAYS GAY ROLE SPARKED HOMOPHOBIA OM HIS FAY, ATH THREATS
• VIGGO MORTENSEN HAS 'FRANK' RPONSE WHEN ASKED ABOUT PLAYG A GAY MAN IN HIS NEW MOVIE
• SOPRANOS‘ GAY CHARACTER ‘JOHNNY CAK’ KILLS HIMSELF
• JOE GANNASLI DISCS HIS LIFE DURG AND SCE PLAYG GAY MOBSTER VO SPATAFORE ON ‘THE SOPRANOS’
• VIGGO MORTENSEN EX WIFE EXENE CERVENKA AND RELATNSHIP TIMELE, WHAT ABOUT THE GAY RUMORS?
• GAY PORNSTAR : TOP 25 HOTTT GAY PORNSTARS

BARRY’S NOHO HANK: JT ANOTHER A SERI OF GAY TELEVISN MOBSTERS

I gus wasn't too much of a surprise when NoHo Hank, an unsavory character om the h HBO seri Barry, was revealed to be gay. He is also a thls killer, and while he across fun-lovgly, he's anythg revelatn that he was gay was treated as no big al by tle character Barry, played brilliantly by Bill Har, who also -created the show.

Har's Barry is a hired h man, so his teractns wh Hank are not only edic but vlent, or rooted nfirmed my spicns -- my gaydar went off wh him season 1 -- that he was gay when he was outed the season 3 opener.

His sexualy is prented wh a touch of flamboyance and sills, jt like the other attribut of his mob boss beg gay got me thkg about other mob, rtel, or gang members on other h televisn shows who are gay too and how their sexualy is more matter-of-fact and not sensatnalized. Pacho, a Colombian portrayed the show by Argentian actor Alberto Ammann, was head of distributn and secury for the Cali dg also happened to be gay. The fact that Mickey is an obnox, cel jerk who, aga, happens to be gay, was part of what ma him so -- well, I'll jt say , shamels.

GAY ‘SOPRANOS’ MOBSTER FDS A B OF FAME

They were villas first, and y, some episos of each seri voted storyl to the fact that they were gay, but at the end of the day, wasn't a big al. However, what sets Gannasli's character apart om the others is that when Vo was outed as gay the seri almost 20 years ago, was not only a major twist on the show but was also big news pop culture. "I started out as a chef and worked a bunch of rtrants New York Cy almost 30 years ago, and I worked wh a lot of gay people, and never bothered me at all, " Gannasli remisced.

I was jt one of his crew, so my part was the background, and hey, I wanted more screen time, jt like any other actor, so I was tryg to figure out ways to make that happen, " he a break om the seri, Gannasli read a book that clud a gay mob character, so he had an ia. "Gannasli and the productn team of The Sopranos eventually realized that creatg a gay mob character would be revolutnary. "It was also important for Gannasli, personally, for Vo to be gay sce prented him an opportuny to stretch his character beyond a mobster.

HOW GAY IS VO OM THE SOPRANOS?

""Look, we all know now that beg gay is monplace, and gay people are every walk of life, om firemen to police to mobsters, " Gannasli said.

It had nothg to do wh Vo beg gay and everythg to do wh that fact that Vo was hurtg Tony where he felt the most, his wallet.

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

”Drsed appropriate leather bar attire, Vo Spatafore — the heretofore closeted gay mobster — was sighted by a uple wiseguys who me by the sweaty S&M jot to llect their protectn money. )Now that the gay story le is heatg up, the 47-year-old Brooklyn-born actor is immensely pleased, part bee was his ia to make Vo homosexual.

VIGGO MORTENSEN HAS 'FRANK' RPONSE WHEN ASKED ABOUT PLAYG A GAY MAN IN HIS NEW MOVIE

”Gannasli’s suggtn was spired by the book “Murr Mache, ” about the Gambo fay, which had an openly gay member also named Vo. But even amid all the recent gay buzz, Gannasli knows the reactn to Vo won’t be all posive. Gannasli dancg gleefully a biker’s p a leather bar, or gog on the lam to a gay Shangri-La ( this se, “Live Free or Die” New Hampshire) and fallg love wh the handsome mtached ok om the der—“Johnny Cak”—that have given TV viewers that rare feelg that they are watchg somethg new.

SOPRANOS‘ GAY CHARACTER ‘JOHNNY CAK’ KILLS HIMSELF

Sure, there have been plenty of gay characters on televisn before: wacky Jack om Will & Grace, or David, the fsy unrtaker wh the hot p boyiend on Six Feet Unr.

But the plight of Gay Vo has stirred up siar feelgs to those viewers felt when they first tuned on Sunday nights 1999 to see a Prozac-poppg Mafia boss spill his guts to his therapist. Gannasli’s character, Vo Spatafore, was revealed as a closeted gay man when, at the end of last season, viewers spied his head e bobbg up om the lap of a secury guard. GANNASCOLI who had ially brought up the ia of a gay mobster to the show’s wrers durg the filmg of season three, after he’d read Murr Mache by Gene Mta and Jerry Capeci, about an openly gay member of the Gambo crime fay who was allowed to live bee he was a good earner.

Early this season, the stage for tragedy was set when Vo was spotted by mobsters as he gallivanted full leather regalia a gay bar.

JOE GANNASLI DISCS HIS LIFE DURG AND SCE PLAYG GAY MOBSTER VO SPATAFORE ON ‘THE SOPRANOS’

Gannasli was recently asked to serve as grand marshal at an Atlanta Gay Pri para, and he’s received letters om openly gay and closeted men appldg his portrayal. The Brooklyn actor who played Johnny Cak – the gay-fireman lover of a mob po on “The Sopranos” – killed himself a holiday tragedy that has stunned fay and iends. In the h HBO seri, actor Joseph Gannasli – a longtime iend of Costelloe’s – played mobster and closeted homosexual Vo Spatafore, who fled New Jersey after he was outed.

In the show, Vo beme attracted to Johnny Cak once he learned the short-orr ok was a volunteer firefighter, before beg whacked by his homophobic rivals. 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.

VIGGO MORTENSEN EX WIFE EXENE CERVENKA AND RELATNSHIP TIMELE, WHAT ABOUT THE GAY RUMORS?

“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.

GAY PORNSTAR : TOP 25 HOTTT GAY PORNSTARS

“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?

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. In 2004, the Season 5 episo "Unintified Black Mal", is disclosed to viewers Vo is fact homosexual after he is seen performg fellat on a secury guard early one morng at the Esplana nstctn se by Meadow's boyiend, Fn De Trol. Later, that eveng while makg a llectn at a gay bar, two Lupertazzi Fay associat, one named Sal Iaccuzzo, saw Vo dancg provotively wh a gay man.