Will & Grace's Max Mutchnick
disagrees with actors Rupert Everett and Richard Chamberlain on
whether Hollywood is homophobic.
Mutchnick, who co-created the
long-running NBC sitcom about a gay lawyer and his best friend, has
rejected claims by Everett and Chamberlain that openly gay actors
can't get work in Hollywood.
Chamberlain, who came out gay at the
age of 69 in his 2003 memoir Shattered Love, advised gay
actors to remain closeted in an interview with gay glossy The
Advocate.
“There's still a tremendous amount of
homophobia in our culture,” he said. “It's regrettable, it's
stupid, it's heartless, and it's immoral, but there it is. For an
actor to be working is a kind of miracle, because most actors aren't,
so it's just silly for a working actor to say, 'Oh, I don't care if
anybody knows I'm gay' – especially if you're a leading man.”
“Personally, I wouldn't advise a gay
leading man-type actor to come out.”
British actor Everett expressed a
similar sentiment, saying work for him dried up after he announced he
was gay.
But Mutchnick, who is also gay,
disagreed, telling Entertainment Weekly that Hollywood is not
homophobic.
“I don't think the audience is as
homophobic as the media would have us believe,” he said. “Neither
is Hollywood. I've never denied an actor a job because he was gay,
but I have denied actors jobs because they suck. There is no
blacklist that forbids gay actors from playing straight roles.
Convince us you're in love with her and we'll hire you. And I
promise we won't care who you're cuddling up with when you're off
camera.”