Darren Criss Says He’s Done With Gay Roles

I literally just bragged about Darren Criss' hottest nude scenes the other day, and now he's chosen to stop taking on gay roles that should go to gay actors. Of course he waited to break the news until after he portrayed Giorgio Armani's killer Andrew Cunanan on American Crime Story - not only won him a Prime-time Emmy Award but also got him nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award - but that's beside the point I guess.

The 31-year-old actor/singer/heartthrob, who identifies as a heterosexual IRL, says that although he has built his career on playing LGBTQ+ roles, he feels that it isn't fair to take them from actors who also identify as LGBTQ+. He recently sat down with Bustle to explain his newfound stance in the issue.

"I won't be another straight boy taking a gay man’s role," he said. He said that playing these types of roles has been a "real joy," but that he is no longer comfortable accepting them.

"The reason I say that is because getting to play those characters is inherently a wonderful dramatic experience," he told the publication. "It has made for very, very compelling and interesting people."

The idea of straight actors taking on gay roles and cisgender actors taking on transgender roles has been an ongoing discussion for the past few years. According to GLAAD's 2018 "Where We Are On TV" report, only 75 of the 857 primetime series regular characters on the five broadcast networks (ABC, FOX, NBC, CBS, The CW) are LGBTQ+. While this is the highest representation of LGBTQ+ characters on television at one time, most of them are played by straight, cisgender actors.

Criss also noted that he is confident that as we see more series get the reboot treatment, such as the upcoming Queer As Folk reboot, we will see more LGBTQ+ actors on television in the roles they more closely identify with. Here's hoping.

Also, I really hope we still get to see more naked Criss in the future - no matter what kind of roles he takes on.