In a recent interview, Darren Criss,
who is best known for playing a gay character, said that he has been
“shit on” for discussing who should play queer roles.
Criss is best known for playing Blaine
Anderson, a talented and confident gay teen, on the musical-comedy
Glee. He played Andrew Cunanan, a gay man, in The
Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story. He also
took a turn as the title character in the Broadway production of
Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
Criss, 34, told The Independent
that the debate over who should play queer roles has become “a
really tough one.”
“I've been shit on” for discussing
the topic, he said.
“No matter what I say, I’m going to
get into the same mess that I’ve always gotten in, which is me
being what I believe is very fair and diplomatic, but nobody’s
interested in that, because compassion is not currently in vogue,"
Criss
said.
Criss said that he continues to hear
from people affected by his character's same-sex relationship with
Kurt Hummel (played by Chris Colfer) on Glee.
“I have a lot of queer folks that
come up to me, particularly older folks, that will say how much that
relationship meant to them,” he said. “They’ll say, ‘When I
was growing up, I didn’t really ever get to see that on TV’…
and then I always remind them, neither did I…”
"As a cis straight man, I also
didn’t see that,” he added.