Director Ryan Murphy said Friday that
his father beat him after finding out he's gay.
Murphy was at TCA to promote Pose,
which he co-created with Brad Falchuk and Steven Canals.
The upcoming FX drama looks at the ball
culture of New York City in the late 1980s. Pose will make
history with the largest cast of transgender actors in series regular
roles on television.
(Related: Ryan
Murphy's 'Pose' to feature five transgender actors.)
Murphy called the show an intensely
personal project, noting that he can relate to a scene in which one
of the characters' father “beats him bloody with a belt” after
finding out his son is gay.
“That happened to me,” Murphy
said. “That was my coming out experience with my father.”
“I can’t believe my life and can’t
believe that things have changed so radically in my lifetime,” he
said. “If you asked me then if I would be allowed to be married and
have children like you, I never would have believed it.”
Murphy added that he feels a
responsibility to support “people who still don't feel included.”