English actor Stephen Fry has questioned why heterosexual actors who play gay characters are called “brave”.
In an interview with the UK’s Radio Times, Mr Fry said, “Straight actors can play gay people and they’re rather congratulated on it. People say ‘Ooh, how brave of you’.
“No-one says to gay actors in the same situation, ‘How brave of you to kiss that woman, that must have been very difficult for you,’” he added.
“It wouldn’t be at all difficult for me to kiss a woman – I’ll kiss a frog if you like. It’s difficult to ride bareback backwards while unicycling, but to kiss someone isn’t difficult.
“It’s just part of the insanely irrational way that the human mind works,” Fry concluded. However, the actor and bon vivant also revealed his frustration at being pigeonholed as gay in TV and film roles.
“I think the fact that I’m so well known to be gay makes it very difficult to have a convincing relationship with a woman on screen,” he said.
Nonetheless, he said it would be “quite mean” for a public figure like himself to be closeted.
“You think of the average person in the playground who’s terrified of being beaten up, or the people who are not in a job like mine, where it doesn’t really matter.”
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