Andrew Garfield said he was gay ‘without the physical act.’ Some people weren’t amused.
Actor Andrew Garfield made a very 21st-century celebrity mistake: a forehead-slapping gaffe that fits into 140 characters.
During a Q&A session about his role as Prior Walter, a gay man dying from AIDS in Tony’s Kushner’s play “Angels in America,” Garfield offered an eyebrow-raising comment about his preparation for the role.
“As far as I know, I am not a gay man. As far as I know. I may get an awakening later in my life, which would be wonderful and I’ll get to explore that part of the garden, but right now I’m secluded to my area, which is wonderful, as well.”
The clarification drew laughs from a crowd eager to hear more about Garfield’s work in the London production of the play, which has won Tony Awards and a Pulitzer.
“Every Sunday I have eight friends over and we would watch Ru,” he said, referring to drag queen RuPaul, and provoking more scattered laughs.
But the crowd quieted down after Garfield’s next thought, which is now the center of online controversy and outrage.
“This is my life outside of this play. I am a gay man right now, pretty much, just without the physical act — that’s all,” Garfield said.
It was an inelegant explanation of how the actor was at first uneasy about taking on the role of a legendarily tragic figure in gay culture, and later diving head-first into LGBTQ literature and pop culture to gear up for the play.
“What right do I have to play this wonderful, seminal gay part?” he asked rhetorically.
Some on the Internet didn’t take kindly to Garfield’s remarks, while others lamented the story becoming a story at all.
