Jack Falahee, who plays gay law student
Connor Walsh on the ABC drama How To Get Away With Murder,
says he's thrilled with the response to his character.
The legal drama returned from its
winter break on Thursday.
Walsh picks up and beds Oliver (played
by Conrad Ricamora), an informant for a murder case, in the show's
pilot. In subsequent episodes, Connor and Oliver appear to be
developing a relationship.
Walsh is openly gay, confident and
sexually active, something that has previously not been seen on
network television.
Billy Crystal, who played a gay
character on Soap in the late 70s, recently alluded to Murder
when he described some of today's gay
television scenes as “pushing it.”
Falahee, 25, told gay male
entertainment blog TheBacklot.com
that gay people have thanked him for his portrayal of an honest gay
character.
Response has been “really
flattering,” he said. “I don't know, it's been sort of an
out-of-body experience with so many people, especially young people
coming up to me and saying, 'Thank you so much. It means so much to
have a real, honest, truthfully depicted gay person on television
that isn't a clown and isn't a caricature.' And I think that [out
showrunner] Pete [Nowalk] just created someone who is just that and
is multi-faceted and grounded and has flaws. That's rad. So any
part I play in bringing that to life has been a wonderful experience.
I'm glad that people are relating.”