Daniel Radcliffe Says Out Gay Actors Are Typecast in Homophobic Hollywood

Daniel Radcliffe has opened up on UK television about why so few Hollywood actors have come out as gay.

The interview appeared on The Victoria Derbyshire Show as part of the Harry Potter star’s promotional tour for his new movie Imperium.

Asked about why he thought there were very few A-List openly gay actors Radcliffe said, “I suppose because then people just want to cast you as gay,” he said.

“Rather than the lead role, whose married with children or whatever?” Derbyshire continued.

“Yeah, often,” Radcliffe responded. “I mean, there’s very few (gay actors) – well, Neil Patrick Harris has made a career out of playing the the straightest guy on television, which is fantastic.

“But in film, yeah, it’s sad – because, again, we’re in this industry that likes to see itself as being totally progressive and liberal, but there is a line where people go, ‘oh no, people won’t buy him as straight anymore.’”

“They’ll be typecast as the gay best friend,” Derbyshire adds, to which Radcliffe nodded in agreement.

Radcliffe has had to dodge persistent rumours in the past about himself being gay.

In a 2010 MTV interview, Radcliffe was asked what he thought when others suggested he was gay.

“If people want to say that, they can,” he said. “But I’m not. I’m straight.”

But he did say it was funny the things people used to suggest he was gay.

“My favorite thing I saw was a guy on the Internet that said, ‘Of course he’s gay. He’s got a gay face,’ which I thought was kind of an odd thing to say anyway,” Radcliffe laughed.

“A ‘gay face’? That’s a very worrying thing, like they have sat at home and have got pictures of me next to other famous, gay [people] — Elton John, I don’t know — just comparing across the years. I’m not sure. It’s very, very odd.”

The actor appeared on the BBC show to discuss his upcoming film, Imperium – in which he portrays an undercover neo-Nazi.

Set for release this week, the film is co-written by former FBI agent Michael German, who in real life spent more than a decade inside the white supremacist movement.

A strong supporter of LGBT rights, Radcliffe joked previously of Google’s autocomplete searches for him: “Daniel Radcliffe alcoholic. Daniel Radcliffe gay. Daniel Radcliffe girlfriend.”

“If people are speculating about your sexuality, then you’re doing OK,” he said.

Last Updated on Sep 21, 2016