Rupert Everett: Gay actors should stay in the closet
The British actor Rupert Everett says he would not advise any gay actor working in the movie industry to come out as it would not help their career.
He told the BBC’s Stephen Sackur in an interview that straight actors could play the part of gay people and win awards – but the roles were rarely reversed.
“The structure of Hollywood, the whole of Hollywood…I’m also talking about theatre. The theatre owning community is another fairly right wing organisation. Since Reaganism [President Reagan], it becomes possibly worse for an actor to come out. The mainstream actor has had to become straighter and straighter.”
When Sackur reminded Everett that a number of modern day openly gay actors, such as Matt Bomer and Sir Ian McKellen have achieved success, Everett paused for a second before saying, “Who’s to know? I don’t think so.”
Earlier this month, in an interview with the Sunday Times, Everett said that he was a slut because he was furious with his Catholic faith.
