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Brendan Fehr tries to clear up what he said about playing gay: “I’m not the most eloquent person in the world”
Brendan Fehr, currently one of the stars of NBC’s The Late Shift, annoyed plenty of folks last month after giving an interview about playing a gay doctor on the series.
He said, among other things, that he was ‘uncomfortable’ kissing male co-star Luke Macfarlane who plays his boyfriend. He also said: ‘To play a homosexual on network television, what are the risks? There’s a whole bunch of them. What are the rewards? Not as many.’
Fehr tries to explain himself in anew interview with The Backlot.
Here are some excerpts:
‘So I think I got in a lot of trouble about the risks and the rewards. It was always going to be a reward for me in terms of what I was able to accomplish with it and what I wanted to do. But the risks were obviously in terms of other fans out there. I’ve got a big female [fan] base to a certain degree. Would some people not really want to see me in that role? With the Midwest where people watch TV, would they kind of reject me as an actor in that role? I think those were the risks I was talking about.’
Interview Fallout: ‘Everything I said in that interview I could have made it clearer and more eloquent. I’m not the most eloquent person in the world. I’m kind of a meat and potatoes type of guy. I hope people have enough common sense to figure out what kind of person I am and to give me the benefit of the doubt when it could go either way.I do stand by everything [and] I was just being realistic about all the possible things.’
On his portrayal: ‘I don’t play him gay, I play him human. Do I get to do some gay stuff? Yes, of course. But it’s like he’s a human being. I play the emotions. I play what he feels. I think that’s the most important part and that’s why I love him because he’s a really specific character. He stands out for me on this show. There are still risks because he is such a great character. Because I am representing something, which is a little bit foreign to me, which makes it exciting. But I don’t want to cater to just the LGBT community. I want people who don’t like homosexuals to begrudgingly go ‘you know, I guess the gay kid’s all right.’ You know what I mean? I want them to be sitting there in Nebraska on their couch going ‘I like the gay one.’
Comments
(All comments are reviewed before being published, and I review submissions several times per day.)
Mark Bessenger says:
Another non-apology. “I’m sorry if you didn’t understand me.”
Sam, Dallas TX says:
It sound to me like he is an actor who isn’t really comfortable playing a gay character. If that’s the case he shouldn’t have accepted the part. It’s possible he thought he was Ok with it but his feelings changed once the show started airing. Either way this new statement doesn’t do much to clarify his original comments.
CraigR. says:
Still sounds like an idiot.
Renato says:
Hey guys, he may not know how to express himself, but I don’t think he is homophobic or something like that. I was not sure, but I confirmed it, he has also made a movie in 2004 called ‘Sugar’ where he is a hustler that portraits a complicated relation of him with another guy and the gay universe. I watched it while ago and it is kind of a strong movie, and some may be uncomfortable watching it. So, he should be more concerned with his image in that movie, but the TV factor is something to consider…
Daniel Lewis Frommherz says:
So he thinks that he needs to impress his ladies fans as a macho Doctor Dude. I’ve noticed that early on in the shows episodes that he takes the time to moon over his boyfriend who appears to be Luke who is not on scene, then the handshake grip with Luke in a hospital bed and the kiss that freaked him out based I believe on his theory that he has to impress his ladies. This certainly shows that he doesn’t even know himself enough to get freaked out, give me a break. Since then if you have watched each episode we get less and less of the interaction we had seen with Luke and more the macho bull headed hetero doctor. while I have been more impressed with the lead actor and his meltdown with PTSD in combat. Now that was and is real being that I am a combat veteran survivor. I actually hope that they write Brendan Fehr out of next seasons episodes, let him get killed off or whatever just get him out of there he isn’t doing the show anything positive gay or straight.
K. Martinez says:
Where’s Doctor Reid Oliver when we need him.
Jim Steele says:
Someone tell him to stop while he’s behind. Bless his heart.
Ron Minor says:
I agree with Daniel, if Brendan is so damn uncomfortable being an actor (portraying a gay person) then he needs to be written out of the show and he needs to find a different line of work… Fire the fool!
Charlie says:
I never had any intention to watch the show, gay character or not. This interview certainly doesn’t make me want to watch it any more, than before.