Northern Irish actor Kristian Nairn,
who is best known for playing Hodor in HBO's Game of Thrones,
publicly announced on Tuesday that he's gay.
When the Game of Thrones fan
site WinterIsComing.net
asked Nairn whether he was aware of his following among gay bears
(large, hairy men), Nairn answered that the gay community was his
community.
“Well, in all honesty, when you talk
about 'the gay community,' you are talking about my community, haha,”
Nairn said. “I am aware of it, yeah, and I think it's really
lovely. There's not a day that I don't get a few messages, but 99%
or more are super sweet and nothing smutty at all! Again, it's a
privilege, and I really mean that. I've never hidden my sexuality
from anyone, my whole life in fact. And I've been waiting for
someone to ask about it in an interview, cos it's not something you
just blurt out. I've tried to lead the questions a few times, to no
avail!”
Nairn, 38, answered that he didn't “see
why it would be an issue,” when asked whether “most of the cast
and crew have an understanding of it?”
“I ask because I know there is a
certain percentage of parents who might say, 'Oh, well, I don't want
my child acting with a gay man,'” the interviewer stated.
“I would love to see the children in
question on the show react to [someone telling them] that. That's so
not even been an issue. The families and kids on the show are so
switched on to reality. To 'old ways' aren't an issue,” Nairn
said.