Out British actor Russell Tovey has
apologized for comments he made Sunday about effeminate gays.
The 33-year-old Tovey, who currently
plays gay on HBO's Looking, suggested in an interview with The
Guardian that there is something wrong with effeminate gay men.
“I feel like I could have been really
effeminate, if I hadn't gone to the school I went to,” Tovey
said. “Where I felt like I had to toughen up. If I'd have
been able to relax, prance around, sing in the street, I might be a
different person now. I thank my dad for that, for not allowing me
to go down that path. Because it's probably given me the unique
quality that people think I have.”
“I get told, a lot, that I'm kind of
carving my own path. That there are not many actors who are out and
are able to play straight, and gay, and everyone's OK with it,” he
added.
“He's glad he's not effeminate?”
out actor Alec Mapa (Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives)
rhetorically asked. “Well the feeling is mutual lady. I'm glad
I'm not you.”
“We experience so much discrimination
from the outside world, wouldn't it be great if we were kinder to
each other in our own community?” he
asked.
In a series of tweets
Tuesday, Tovey apologized: “I surrender. You got me. I'm sat
baffled and saddened that a mis-fired inarticulate quote of mine has
branded me worst gay ever. If you feel I have personally let you
down, I'm sorry, that was never my intention.”
“I'm proud to be who I am and proud
for others. We're in this together. I want you to know whatever you
think I meant, I didn't,” he added.