Zoomer here, was it ever a big deal for a celebrity in the 90s to be gay? I'm not being facetious and asking a question I know the answer to. What were reactions to finding out x actor was a homo? Did anyone care? I remember how big a deal it was for Ellen Page to transition, being gay seems so tame now.
>>215034814It's still a big deal. Even if it's subconscious people will still be turned off by a flamer being in leading roles where he romances a woman or has to be a tough guy.
>>215034814Depends. Most actors build their identity on being sexually available to the opposite sex and something to be imitated by their own gender. Everyone knew richard simmons was a fruit, but his brand wasn´t built on the aforementioned rule. Same goes for Ellen, she was always seen as a dyke.
Ellen coming out was a huge deal. Eddie Murphy getting caught with a tranny was a huge deal.
>>215034949Better times..
>>215034949OP being a faggot was seen as normal tho
>>215034814>Zoomer here, was it ever a big deal for a celebrity in the 90s to be gay?Yes, but there were 2 types of big deal:1. of course he's a homo/dyke...it was obvious (Ellen Degenerate, Ricky Martin, etc.)2. wtf, he's a cocksucker? I'm disgusted. Both got media attention like it was the start of a world war, but if you were in the 1st category you were generally safer from a career standpoint. The second category, not so much. The proof being that I can't even remember a few examples.
>>215034814There have always been gay actors,but whether people care or not can vary quite a bit. I think has to do with how openly they displayed it. So for example when Rock Hudson was revealed to be gay, a lot of people list their shit because they saw him as a strong alpha male type. Similarly with Ellen DeGeneres, she was presented as straight for a big chunk of her career and that confused people. Caesar Romero as a counter example was always flamingly gay so no one ever cared, it's just who the dude was and he was super entertaining.
>>215035009>The proof being that I can't even remember a few examples.George Michael?
>>215035009>The second category, not so much. The proof being that I can't even remember a few examples.The best examples of this were all male actors from the golden age that the general populace didn't find out about until way after they were of any relevance. Like if You try to tell my boomer dad that randolph scott was a butt pirate living in open sin with cary grant. He just can't grok it.
paul lynde seemed to exist just fine
>>215034814Rock Hudson was a sex symbol and leading man who the public didn't know was gay until he died from AIDS in the 80s and it was shocking. It blew people's minds.
>>215035115>He just can't grok it.we're doing this now are we
>>215034814It was a very big deal because almost nobody well known, let alone a star, was openly gay in those days. There was giant stigma around it. Even famous singers were forced to hide their sexual orientation to protect their career. George Michael for example didn’t come out of the closet until 1998 and that was only after he was arrested for soliciting men for sex in a public bathroom.
>>215035044>Caesar Romero as a counter example was always flamingly gay so no one ever caredRomero being gay has never been confirmed, just rumoured. It wasn’t even something most people were aware of until the 90s when a book about gay Hollywood actors was published making allegations about Romero’s orientation. He spent large chunk of his career playing latin lovers and historical figures in costume dramas and some comedy parts. Nobody considered him fruity in the public eye. He was also almost 60 years when he played the Joker after over three decades being an actor.
>>215035214
>>215035228>soliciting men for sex in a public bathroomhow could a gorgeous celebrity be this down bad
>>215035321bussy
>>215035321Gay men used to only be able to find sexual partners in places like doubled as male only hook-up joints precisely because they couldn’t be open about their sexuality
>>215035214Sorry I'm old. i was using it in the "stranger in a strange land" sense. Fuck this gay ass future.
>>215035399Based
>>215035399well alright, but if I start to use grok as a verb and I get bullied for it, it'll be your fault.
>>215034814>in the 90sPeople had a meltdown over Ricky Martin in 2010, so yes, in the 90's it was a nightmare. What I found funny is George Michael being forced out of the closet in 98 after being caught with another guy in a public bathroom. Like, who really thought that guy was straight? He even released this MV 8 years before, I always thought this shis was about being gayhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diYAc7gB-0A
>>215034949>Ellen coming out was a huge dealDegeneres or Page? First one I can see, they still expect the people in this kind of show to at least keep to themselves. Page is different because she mutilated her body right after, althought yeah I remember a lot guys going "no not her!" as if they ever had a chance.
>>215034814People were still sane and didn't have to pretend fags weren't filthy hiv ridden pedos.
>>215034814You would be usually fine if you fit people's normative expectations. a flamer was essentially boxed into a separate category of person, sort of like a clown, although an endearing clown to most people (which was ultimately an avenue through which it became more normalized)
the only person mentioned in this thread who didn't surprise me when I learned they were gay was Richard Simmons.
>>215034814>More than six months after dismissing Richard Simmons’ defamation lawsuit against the National Enquirer and Radar Online, which ran articles alleging that Simmons had undergone sex reassignment surgery, a judge ordered the fitness guru to pay nearly $130,000 in attorneys’ fees to the media outlets and their publisher, American Media, according to court documents.>Simmons sued the media outlets in May 2017 after they ran articles claiming he is transgender. A June 2016 cover of the National Enquirer, for example, read: “Richard Simmons: He’s Now a Woman.” In his lawsuit, Simmons claimed the outlets published the stories with “calculated malice.”>In his tentative ruling, issued in August 2017, Keosian stated that being misidentified as transgender does not inherently expose someone to "hatred, contempt, ridicule or obloquy," and therefore does not rise to the level of defamation.Thanks to the more enlightened time we are living in, starting a false rumor that someone is transition their sex doesn't count as defamation because there is literally nothing wrong with being trans.
>>215036303yeah I read this and thought this too lol
>>215035152What about Liberace? He was ostentatiously gay and nobody cared
>>215035321Fetishes are fetishes. Doesn't matter your status in life.
>>215035848>People had a meltdown over Ricky Martin in 2010He presented himself as this Latino hearttrhrob, nobody suspected a thing
>>215035848>Like, who really thought that guy was straight?People thought Liberace was straight.
>>215036654Kek that's a good one, forgot about that. Little Richard too.
>>215036425I'm from South America, the meltdown was insane, specially for those women around 30yo who worshiped him all their lives. We have a lot of singers in the same trunk to this day, SA still is very conservative and much of these singers have large female audiences and the few male fans probably are straight guys, coming out this late in the game will certainly fuck their careers. On the other hand we have literal trans singers, like another anon said it's all about how your audience perceives you.
>>215035279I don't know where you got that. Watching Batman reruns in the 80's my grandfather would talk all the time about what a fruit Romero was. It always seemed everyone knew. Hudson was the shocker.
>>215036333pfft, the common cattle thought he was just flamboyant.
>>215036887>My grandpa said he was fruity so that means everyone was thinking the sameOkay, bro.
>>215034814Yeah. He wouldn't be arrested or beaten by a mob, but it would be a humiliating media circus, people would be mad or.cruel, and their career would probably be over. There's a few people who would have sailed through, but like for Tom Cruise to openly come out of the closet of his own volition in 1994 would have meant no more leading roles in blockbusters. It's hard to even articulate why, it's so much of a vibe and taboo thing. Its exactly like today, where half the country would have been supportive and scolding the conservative half. But in those days, the pro-gay people weren't calling the shots like they have been for the last 15 years.
>>215036841>make a song about liking man ass>realise there are more women than gay dudes>make the song about liking woman ass>make millions>still crave man ass
>>215036957Say what you will, I remember it being just general common knowledge. Literally no one reacted to Romero like they did Hudson. He'sa full on flamer, there were maybe a few clueless shocked and disappointed housewives like the ones who's brains were broken by Ricky Martin but that's it
>>215035097I think anon almost hit it on the head but he left out a third category which is those of whom it is an open secret in Hollywood (Cary grant, Pedro pascal, rock Hudson, etc.) but not among the masses, and so when it hits that they were gay/lesbian, the masses are shocked but the industry is not surprised or even celebrates it.
>>215036333>What about Liberace? He was ostentatiously gay and nobody caredI can't believe Liberace was gay. I mean, women loved him! I didn't see that one
>>215035869Degeneres, no one cared about page by the time she came out
>>215034915Just look at D U N C.
>>215034814A celebrity coming out was a big deal even when it was painfully obvious like OP. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXJtz1TgmIM
