Russell Tovey says sorry for effeminate actor comments
Gay actor Russell Tovey has been forced to apologise after he gave an interview to The Observer newspaper, in which he said he was grateful he hadn’t gone to the kind of drama school that would lead him to ‘prance around’ – and that he’s grateful he’s not an ‘effeminate’ man.
Tovey was the victim of a knife attack when he was aged 18, a crime from which he took 10 years to recover. But he now thanks his dad for not allowing him to go to theatre school: ‘I feel like I could have been really effeminate … If I’d have been able to relax, prance around, sing in the street, I might be a different person now.’
The HBO show Looking, in which Tovey stars, has been applauded for showing a diverse range of gay men, from muscular rugby players to bearded men who prance around and sing in the street.
In a series of Twitter messages, Tovey apologised for a ‘mis-fired inarticulate quote’.
He concluded bafflingly, saying that ‘whatever you think I meant, I didn’t.’
4 comments
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Thanks Jonny – correct me if I’m wrong, but the interview appeared in the print edition of The Observer on Sunday 1 March. The newspaper’s own report of his apology also mentions that the interview was given to The Observer.
The confusion may come from the fact that both papers share the same Guardian-branded website?
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Bryan
No need to apologise, he is only saying the same as many of us gay men may say or have a preference or opinion of, it is just so annoying that political correctness has gone crazy. Stick by with what you say and sod them if they don’t like it.xx
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Really Bryan? He stated a preference? What he said has nothing to do with preference, unlike what many ‘butch’ gays seem to defend him for. What he did say was really damaging to the gay community. I’m one of the editors for So So Gay but I’m speaking for myself, as a gay, out actor who went to drama school. This is my opinion and not So So Gay’s.
If you read the article he said he was glad he didn’t turn out to be effeminate.
Can you imagine being a young, closeted ‘effeminate’ gay boy who looks up to Russell Tovey (because he’s an out gay actor) who then suddenly says that being effeminate is wrong? If that young gay boy was feeling scared about being out in a straight world for being who he is, words like Russell’s really nail that closet door shut, saying that there is only one way to live in a straight world, and that is being straight, or straight-perceived. Nothing to do with sexual preference but saying that the young effeminate gay boy is bad, is wrong, and that straight society is better. Statements like his kick us all back into the closet, butch and femme. No need to apologise? He should be on his knees, begging.
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FYI Article was in the Guardian, not the Observer