Kristin Chenoweth Attacks Newsweek Article on Openly Gay Actors
Last time I saw Kristin Chenoweth guest star on Glee, I may or may not have made a few comments about her worryingly overtanned exterior, but all is forgiven, K-Chen! The actress and Broadway veteran has positively ripped into Newsweek for its ridiculous, Ramin Setoodeh-written article on how openly gay actors simply aren't believable when they play straight. Setoodeh saved the bulk of his criticism for Sean Hayes (who currently costars opposite Chenoweth in the musical Promises, Promises) and Jonathan Groff (who's also guesting on Glee, and about whom Setoodeh wrote "When he smiles or giggles, he seems more like your average theater queen"). In a comment posted under his article, Chenoweth has come after him with both guns blazing.
As a longtime fan of Newsweek and as the actress currently starring opposite the incredibly talented (and sexy!) Sean Hayes in the Broadway revival of 'Promises, Promises,' I was shocked on many levels to see Newsweek publishing Ramin Setoodeh's horrendously homophobic 'Straight Jacket,' which argues that gay actors are simply unfit to play straight. From where I stand, on stage, with Hayes, every night -- I've observed nothing "wooden" or "weird" in his performance, nor have I noticed the seemingly unwieldy presence of a 'pink elephant' in the Broadway Theater. (The Drama League, Outer Critics Circle and Tony members must have also missed that large animal when nominating Hayes' performance for its highest honors this year.) I'd normally keep silent on such matters and write such small-minded viewpoints off as perhaps a blip in common sense. But the offense I take to this article, and your decision to publish it, is not really even related to my profession or my work with Hayes or Jonathan Groff (also singled out in the article as too 'queeny' to play 'straight.') This article offends me because I am a human being, a woman and a Christian. For example, there was a time when Jewish actors had to change their names because anti-Semites thought no Jew could convincingly play Gentile. Setoodeh even goes so far as to justify his knee-jerk homophobic reaction to gay actors by accepting and endorsing that 'as viewers, we are molded by a society obsessed with dissecting sexuality, starting with the locker room torture in junior high school.' Really? We want to maintain and proliferate the same kind of bullying that makes children cry and in some recent cases have even taken their own lives? That's so sad, Newsweek! The examples he provides (what scientists call 'selection bias') to prove his 'gays can't play straight' hypothesis are sloppy in my opinion. Come on now! Openly gay Groff is too 'queeny' to play Lea Michele's boyfriend in Glee, but is a 'heartthrob' when he does it in Spring Awakening? Cynthia Nixon only 'got away with it' 'cause she peaked before coming out? I don't know if you've missed the giant Sex and the City movie posters, but it seems most of America is 'buying it.' I could go on, but I assume these will be taken care of in your 'Corrections' this week.
Similarly, thousands of people have traveled from all over the world to enjoy Hayes' performance and don't seem to have one single issue with his sexuality! They have no problem buying him as a love-torn heterosexual man. Audiences aren't giving a darn about who a person is sleeping with or his personal life. Give me a break! We're actors first, whether we're playing prostitutes, baseball players, or the Lion King. Audiences come to theater to go on a journey. It's a character and it's called acting, and I'd put Hayes and his brilliance up there with some of the greatest actors period. Lastly, as someone who's been proudly advocating for equal rights and supporting GLBT causes for as long as I can remember, I know how much it means to young people struggling with their sexuality to see out & proud actors like Sean Hayes, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris and Cynthia Nixon succeeding in their work without having to keep their sexuality a secret. No one needs to see a bigoted, factually inaccurate article that tells people who deviate from heterosexual norms that they can't be open about who they are and still achieve their dreams. I am told on good authority that Mr. Setoodeh is a gay man himself and I would hope, as the author of this article, he would at least understand that. I encourage Newsweek to embrace stories which promote acceptance, love, unity and singing and dancing for all!
As Glee's Matthew Morrison would say after a vigorous round of applause, "THAT'S what I'm TALKIN' about."
Straight Jacket [Newsweek via The Advocate]
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Comments
You go, tiny dynamo! Huzzah!
Wait, this was an article in Newsweek? From 2010, not 1972? Just one more reason to think KC is awesome.
s2 Kristin Chenoweth!
She said it all. And thank god for actors like herself.
Kick his butt, Kristin! I was all 😮 after reading the Newsweek article, so I'm glad somebody got their head to stop spinning for a second to give this guy some WHAT FOR.
Awesome.
As if I needed more reasons to say: I love her!
Already loved her, but damn, this almost made me cry. Thank god for people like Kristin Chenoweth who stand up for what is right and moral. As for Ramin Setoodeh, he seems obsessed with the idea that people might think he's not masculine enough because he's gay - he's the same idiot that wrote that having effiminate characters on television hurts gays (since only "straight-acting" gay people should be allowed to exist). I bet in another six months Ramin will be claiming to be an ex-gay and marrying some deluded woman to try and work out this anger he obviously has about being born gay.
What the hell is wrong with Newsweek? First they have that "Princess and the Frog" review that didn't mention anything about the movie and was just some bizarre racist screed about how black women should stop dating black men because black men don't treat black women right and they all date white women anyway so all black women should start dating outside their race and now this homophobic pigeon-holing rant?
It's becoming the opinion column of a really bad liberal arts school newspaper.
Right on KChen! You tell them what's what, girl. When are all the homophobic nuts gonna catch up to the rest of this modern age?
Thank god Newsweek and all other curmudgeony old media outlets will be dead in a decade. It's really ridiculous what they'll publish for attention nowadays.
And I didn't even know Groff was gay until I read this article! At least it'll make for a good rally among the gay blogs and such.
Kristin Chenoweth is a really great gal.
People still read "Newsweek?"
Thank you little dynamO!
I don't have the slightest idea who Kristin Chenoweth is, but she's my kind of person. Kudos to her for rippin' that retarded Newsweek writer a new one.
Thank you Kristin Chenowith for speaking out. Newsweek, WAKE UP!
I say congratulations to Kristin for her comments as follows: "This article offends me because I am a human being, a woman and a Christian." It's about time the Christians, which I am one of, stopped condemning the glbtq as people who have made a choice! I am also a lesbian and my best friend still believes I'm sinning by loving someone of the same sex. I haven't lost a lot of friends, thank God, but a few have failed to make the transition with me. There is no way I would have chosen this path; I dreamt of being a pastor's wife. Christians should be ashamed at their treatment of these members of our society. It has been shown that even animals sometimes pair with another of the same sex! It's a part of nature. I hope that other Christians will follow suit; their acceptance would mean so much and perhaps will help find a way for all people to marry the one they love.
Having been involved in gay theater and politics (I am a Stonewall vet) for fifty years, I learned long ago that no one is more dangerous than a self-hating closet case.
As Newsweek is about to go out of business, perhaps Ramin Setoodeh can get a job writing for one of the hate publication of the far right.
Doric Wilson
I've slept with Ramin.
he's a self hating bottom.
You go KC! tell em like it is!
After having somehow missed this woman's professional accomplishments, I am now a die hard fan of Kristin Chenoweth the human being. This response is both passionate and well-written. Huzzah indeed!
What a well written reply...GO, KC, go!! Perhaps, it's why Newsweek is for sale?
Hilarious!!!!!! (True????)
K-Chen seems to be the only true "good Christian" on the face of the earth!
You have missed pure theatrical and musical joy
Good for Chenoweth. Openly gay actors can't play straight? please. I knew Rock Hudson and Montgomery Clift were gay before I saw them in any movies and I still found them to be believable romantic leads. And even after coming out Cynthia Nixon has continued to get hetereosexual roles and people seem to buy her in them. You could argue that your average gay actor may even do a better job of playing straight than your average straight actor does playing gay because I've never heard of a gay actor freaking out over kissing someone of the opposite sex. The kinda attitude that Ramin has is what keeps most actors in the closet.
Wow...you go, Kristen. That's as stupid as saying a human actor can't convince an audience that he or she is a space alien. Cuz, you know. They're not ALIENS?
I'm always proud of other Christians who actually stand up against prejudice and don't help to perpetuate it in Jesus' name.
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