There are times when I wish celebrity blogger Perez Hilton would just shut his trap.
The last time I felt that way was when he launched the Carrie Prejean gay marriage scandal, turning a forgettable beauty queen into a right-wing celebrity, a la Joe The Plumber.
Well, he’s doing it again.
It was announced this week that actor Chris Engen, who plays Adam “Victor Jr.” Newman on soap opera Young and the Restless, quit and was being recast. It shouldn’t have been surprising to many soap fans, since rumors of his departure have been around for months.
However, the story gained a bit of color when it revealed by Nelson Bronco of TV Guide Canada that Engen reportedly quit over a kiss with his new co-star Yani Gellman, who plays lawyer Rafe. Also reported was Engen’s unhappiness with the darker turn his character was taking and his meeting with the show’s brass to discuss his future on the program.
Perez Hilton, in his usually harsh manner, took the story and used it to attack Chris Engen, accusing him of being homophobic and verbally assaulting him.
While I think Chris Engen is an idiot for quitting the leading show in daytime during a recession, I think its equally idiotic to accuse him of homophobia because performing in a gay storyline made him uncomfortable, if that is the reason at all.
As I mentioned earlier, rumors of Engen’s departure have been around for months, since his character was sent to jail for forging his father’s diary. The reason behind his discontent is probably because the constant changing to his character’s story. He was introduced as the devoted son of Hope Adams, Victor Newman’s beloved blind ex-wife. When she died, Victor took Adam under his wing. From there, he became a power-hungry control freak who began working with Victor’s archenemy Jack Abbott to set Victor up. He was eventually caught and sent to jail. After some time in the clink, Adam was released into Victor’s custody when Adam began to lose his eyesight. Just last week, though, we learned two secrets: Adam has been injecting stuff into his eyes to appear blind, and he is behind Ashley’s gaslighting.
With such a jumpy storyline that has made his character hugely unpopular, it isn’t surprising that he would want to leave. Add to that the plans to possibly involve him in a same-sex relationship, when his character is in love with prosecutor Heather, being frustrated isn’t impossible to understand. If you truly aren’t enjoying your role, and there aren’t plans to rectify it, then leaving may have been his only way out.
Now, if it is because of the gay kiss, so what? Just because he doesn’t want to kiss someone of the same sex does not make him a homophobe. He may not have been comfortable with kissing a guy, like most straight men in the world. That doesn’t make him anti-gay. Actors, or anyone for that matter, shouldn’t be forced to do something that makes them uncomfortable, even if it irrationally angers some people. Not every actor is that open; for instance, Steve Burton, Jason Morgan on General Hospital, has developed a reputation for refusing to do love scenes as of late. That doesn’t mean that he hates his female co-stars, does it? No, it means he respects his marriage and feels that refraining from love scenes lends to that. The same goes for Chris Engen. Just because he doesn’t want to kiss another man doesn’t mean he should have such an ugly word slapped onto career.
Who knows why Chris Engen chose to leave Young and The Restless? Whatever the reason, it is absolutely wrong to accuse someone of being so hateful, especially when the facts aren’t all out. If he isn’t homophobic (which is most likely the case), than his name has been slandered for either staying within his comfort zone or leaving for greener pastures. Ironically, that is the argument that Carrie Prejean used in defense of her Miss USA answer.
If I were Chris, I would sue Perez Hilton for slander.
2 comments:
As a long time viewer of Y&R, I can say with some authority that the show is far from its glory days, and while the writing is wildly uneven it is better than most of the dreck the other soaps are shoveling out to their viewers.
My whole feeling is that Adam is NOT going to fall in love with gay public defender Rafe, but instead use Rafe's growing crush on him for his own selfish ends. As far as having issues with his character's actions, it's an actor's job to find the motivation and reasoning behind the material he's given, no matter how uneven. If Engen was worried about being "too evil" and losing favor with audiences, I would point to the overwhelming popularity of classic daytime villains such as GUIDING LIGHT's Roger Thorpe (who was convicted of raping his own wife!) and Y&R's own Sheila Carter who committed a slew of crimes including baby stealing, murder, and kidnapping during her immensely popular and nearly 2 decade run.
Whatever the reasons behind his departure I wish him the best in his future endeavors.
I'm so tired of reading people who say that they can understand if an actor doesn't want to do something that makes him uncomfortable, like a same-sex kiss. No one would ever write that if a gay actor was asked (as they often are) to kiss a person of the opposite sex. To take it a bit further, actors are asked to portray situations that are often not part of their makeup. And I'm not talking just about murder and blackmail and adultery (though those are good examples). What about actors who portray child abusers? Kevin's father on Y&R was a horrible person who inflicted pain on a child - what would the bloggers have written if he'd left the show because of that? My guess is that he'd be called a wuss and why would he become an actor? That's what I think of Mr. Engen's actions.
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