14 DAY TRIAL // When Billy Crystal appeared on the comedy “Soap” in the ‘70s playing an openly gay series regular, this was a revolutionary and very bold move. Today, gay characters are no longer a novelty, but Crystal is worried about this tendency producers seem to have to include an ever-increasing number of gay scenes.
Series like “Oz,” “Sons of Anarchy,” “Orange Is the New Black,” “How to Get Away with Murder,” to name just a few, have featured gay love scenes, but Crystal is thinking that this might be just a trendy gimmick producers come up with to keep the ratings going.
Speaking at the Television Critics Association press tour to promote his new show, “The Comedians,” which premieres in April, the actor recalled how “tough” it was for him to play gay in 1977 on “Soap,” The Wrap reports.
He’s making it clear: it’s ok to have a gay character on a TV show, but certain scenes are too much for him to sit through, and it shouldn’t be this way.
“Sometimes I think, ‘Ah that’s too much for me.’ Sometimes, it’s just pushing it a little too far for my taste and I’m not going to reveal to you which ones they are,” he said. “I hope people don’t abuse it and shove it in our face… to the point where it feels like an every day kind of thing.”
He doesn’t say if he feels the same way about straight love scenes, or nudity – and because he doesn’t, voices online are already criticizing him for speaking his mind and coming across as if he’s saying the gays should go back in the closet. Or at the very least that producers should stop forcing the world to watch them making out / love, even when this is essential to the story.