What's your view on Jack Whitehall playing a gay character?

[LyndorCake]

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/film/2018/aug/13/jack-whitehall-role-gay-disney-character-row-jungle-cruise

People have gone wild on twitter about it.
One argument says that as he is straight, he can't understand the role properly and is taking roles always from LGBTQ+ actors. The other side of that is he's an actor and therefore he is always pretending to be someone he isn't in any role, how is this different?

I can sort of see both sides but curious as to what you think?

FFS if there's one profession where gay men are not underrepresented it's in acting.

The snow flake generation and twitter.

And you wonder someone’s offended?

@rivertam lots have been listed in this thread, though yes not in Hollywood blockbusters. Jonathan Groff played Kristoff in Frozen that’s pretty similar to this topic. Ezra Miller has been in a few Hollywood films recently, John Hickey and of course Luke Evans in Beauty and the Beast as mentioned a number of times.

Luke Evans was happy saying he was gay when he was mainly a stage actor in London, but he became a hell of a lot more cagey about it once he started being cast in Hollywood films. Rupert Everett recently said that in terms of his acting career he regretted coming out.

except the paying public exactly. The huge swathes of conservative America. Not Brits. Not left and east coast liberals. Middle America.

(My apologies about Sheldon. I’ve only ever caught odd bits of it and always assumed that Sheldon was gay until a fan told me otherwise. And I have no gaydar to speak of.)

I personally couldn’t care less about the sexuality of the actor on screen. But I’m also aware that what a middle aged Brit thinks about this isn’t uppermost in Hollywood execs minds.

though yes not in Hollywood blockbusters

There are plenty in Hollywood blockbusters. Ian McKellan, Ben Wishaw, Alan Cumming, Jodie Foster, Jane Lynch, Lily Tomlin, Sarah Paulson, Ellen Page, Zachary Quinto, Dennis OHare, Rosie O'Donnell, George Takei, Matt Bomer...thats just off the top of my head. All in huge hollywood movies, and there are many many more.

Luke Evans said quite publically at the time of BatB that he didn’t think his sexually had ever had a negative impact on his career but he likes to keep his private life private so why would he discuss it.

@Rivertam that was a reference to the paying public in the 1950's, not now!

Rupert Everett doesn't get cast because he's shite, not because he's gay.

@HotblackDesiatoto sorry desiatoto that was in reference to previous posts in the thread mentioning actors-most were in tv shows, rivertam had specifically said Hollywood, openly gay and romantic lead (though not sure why the romantic lead is important). Yes there are loads, I suppose not all were openly gay at the time they were cast in some big features. Ultimately I don’t think it matters. It’ll be forgotten about by next week.

I don’t get this coming out thing anyway. Why would you and why should you?

As a woman I don’t declare to the world I am partial to cock, don’t find minge attractive , quite like the role play of the vicar and naughty tart with dh and very occasionally I think anal is fun.

I mean why would anyone care a jot about anyone else’s sex life. Please stay in everyone and do what you prefer in private as no one else should care.

Agree Rupert Everett plays one part! Rupert Everett.

If gay actors could only play gay characters then there would not be enough work to go around!

I also think actors playing superheroes is outrageous, saving the world doesn't pay well so superman, im sure could do with the extra work

I thought it was called acting. Y’ know like when you pretend to
Be someone different.

Why not? Lots of actors act gay when straight or straight when gay.
Black actor playing Hamlet? Why not? White guy playing Othello - nah!

@apriljune12 you're straight so you wouldn't understand the need to come out when your sexuality is the default...

It's not just about sex and liking cock. Is that what you think gay people try to convey when they come out? That they don't want their family and friends to be under the illusion that they DON'T like cock?

People come out because by default people are assumed straight unless told otherwise.

People SHOULDN'T have to come out, and hopefully some day soon they won't, but in the society we live in it's important for a lot of people to at least let their loved ones know what their sexuality is as it does differ from the majority.

Which seems more and more ridiculous as time goes on, but when I came out it felt like a big deal and something I needed to do. 10 years on and I don't feel the need to tell anyone after the initial coming out to my family and friends.

Isn't the idea that actors pretend to be other people?!

apriljune12 you're straight so you wouldn't understand the need to come out when your sexuality is the default

i think you'll find lots of gay people agree with her actually....

I honestly don't agree with this argument about Jack Whitehall. OK I get the argument, and I see both sides, but then why was Nick Robinson (a straight man) applauded just a couple of months ago for the role he played in Love Simon?
A film that is a coming of age story about a teenage boy coming out as gay, with the lead role played by a straight man, yet pretty much everything I've read on Internet forums and articles has had nothing but praise for the film itself as well as for the actor.
It's as ridiculous an argument as the one over Ruby Rose being cast to play Batwoman because she's not Jewish and because apparently it's 'lazy casting to cast the current most popular lesbian actor for a lesbian role' (I actually read comments saying this on Buzzfeed and Twitter).

People need to realise that there's a difference between being woke and just being plain ridiculous.

@HotblackDesiatoto meh, none of the gay people I know, including myself.

That doesn't change anything about my point.

And equally I stand by everything I said.

I didn't say every gay person agrees with me and all of them feel the need to come out either. A lot don't bother.

I was trying to explain why a lot DO choose to come out and why it's not a case of not needing to know about everyone's bedroom habits, but something more than that...

I didn't say every gay person agrees with me and all of them feel the need to come out either. A lot don't bother

So if you agreed with what I said why did you argue?

How are they going to be able to cast anyone in murder films then (apart from OJ Simpson, of course)

and the dead person of course, dead people are so underrepresented in Hollywood, no living people should be playing corpses!

He's acting, playing a part. It's not real.

If he was going to be in a documentary about being a gay man and explaining a gay man's experience in place of a gay man then yeah there would be an issue.

I highly doubt casting directors care about a person's sexuality, they just want the right person for the role.

If you are only defined by your sexuality, then you must lead a sad, shallow life. It doesn't matter who you fuck. Or what you're attracted to, as long as it's legal. No One cares. It's indifference.

He got the part because he was the best person for it.

True equality is no one coming in or out because it’s totally and utterly irrelevant to anything else.

What you like to do sexually, as long as it’s legal, is fine and shouldn’t define you as a person.

If it does you need more in your life.