Bigotry or boundaries? Scripts calling for same-sex smooches have made these
Hollywood stars walk away from millions.
This video contains allegations of, and references to, homophobia.
In the early 2000s , Ashlee Simpson was an undeniable pop idol and many saw her headed
towards becoming the toast of Tinseltown. Even after her infamous SNL blunder and the aftermath,
Simpson's success, as well as her family's well-regarded connections in the music industry,
helped open doors to a promising new acting career. Simpson was cautious
about which roles she accepted. Her acting choices were not always her own decisions,
and it became known that her father and manager, Joe,
refused any same-sex kissing expected for the roles being offered to the up-and-coming star.
"Oh, what if that mistake happens. Oh, what if people don't like me."
Simpson agreed to star in the film Undiscovered, but the role was written
for a woman who was gay. Joe swiftly had the character rewritten and told the New York Post,
"I changed it. It doesn't work for her to be gay the first thing out. [...] She's going
to be a huge movie star. She's like Meg Ryan or Cameron Diaz,
with probably more depth. When we're done, she'll play it all."
Unfortunately, that whirlwind movie career never quite manifested for the aspiring thespian.
Simpson later addressed her reluctance to take on
LGBTQ+ roles. In an interview with for HX magazine, Simpson said that
they wanted to change the sexual identity for her character in Undiscovered because,
"It was a little too obvious."
She added that she wasn't averse to adopting such parts in the future. To date,
Simpson has not played an LGBTQ+ character nor performed a same-sex kiss onscreen.
Eddie Murphy is nothing if not a chameleon. Despite his extraordinary talents,
and time-tested skills, the diverse roles Murphy adopted throughout his career have
little hints as to his preferences. However, on several occasions, Murphy has made it pretty
clear that he would never play an LGBTQ+ character nor, indeed, kiss another man.
"We're supposed to be all different. Big.
Small. Medium. Midgets. You're supposed to have all of that."
In a 1990 interview with Playboy, the comedian was asked about his
career choices and firmly stated his opinion on the matter. He said,
"Would I play a homosexual? Why? I'm a comedian. […] I don't think I could do
some movie where I was kissing some guy and s--- like that."
To make matters worse,
he also inexplicably compared kissing a man to eating insects. Murphy said,
"I ain't eating no bug and I ain't kissing no man. […] If you want to
go to the movies and see me eat a bug and kiss a man, you have a problem, not me."
At the time, the comments came as little surprise considering
that the actor's stand-up routine was notorious for its homophobic jibes.
"Every now and then I take a joke too far and get in trouble."
However, in 2019 Murphy spoke with CBS News and expressed some regret for his past remarks,
admitting that his homophobic jokes now make him cringe.
"I can see! I can see! Jesus! Praise Jesus!"
While it's difficult to imagine anyone other than Jake Gyllenhaal
and Heath Ledger as the straight-washed lovestruck ranchers in Brokeback Mountain,
it was none other than Mark Wahlberg who was originally considered for the flick.
However, in an interview with WENN, Wahlberg made it clear that he had no intention of ever
kissing another man on screen, uttering some rather contentious remarks in the process.
"I met with Ang Lee on that movie. I read 15 pages of the script and got a little
creeped out. It was very graphic, descriptive. [...] I told Ang Lee,
I like you, you're a talented guy, if you want to talk about it more. Thankfully,
he didn't. I didn't rush to see Brokeback, it's just not my deal."
"May I see it? … Well thank you Eddie."
Speaking withThe National Enquirer, a source close to Wahlberg claimed that
his Catholic priest advised him against taking the role. The insider suggested,
"He passed because of the gay subject matter, which clashes with Catholic doctrine."
"Your son is about to make a huge mistake."
"Mom I'm gonna be a priest."
"For Halloween."
Thankfully, the film's Oscar-nominated leads had no issue with expressing same-sex love
in the film. As Gyllenhaal told Another Man magazine, Ledger even refused to perform a
comedy bit at the 2007 Oscars about the film's gay romance. The actor recalled:
"Heath said, 'It's not a joke to me — I don't want to make any jokes about it.'"
Tom Hanks won praise, including his first Academy Award, for his depiction of Andrew Beckett,
a lawyer and openly gay man dying of AIDS in Philadelphia. However,
his onscreen boyfriend, Antonio Banderas, has said that Hanks refused to kiss him.
Banderas is no stranger to appearing in gay-friendly films. Several years earlier,
he starred in Pedro Almodóvar's Law of Desire which features nude same-sex love scenes. On
Inside the Actor's Studio, Banderas revealed that he was more than happy to kiss his Philadelphia
screen partner and even suggested that the pair lock lips. Hanks, however, didn't want to. Indeed,
Banderas kisses Hanks in the film, but there isn't a single smooch on the lips.
The director of Philadephia, Jonathan Demme,
confirmed in an interview with Rolling Stone that Hanks was indeed uncomfortable with a
same-sex kiss. Responding to a remark Denzel Washington made,
in which he advised Will Smith to never kiss a man even if he's playing a gay character, Demme said,
"That's Denzel responding to the same concern. […] When we see two men kissing, we're the products
of our brainwashing. It knocks us back 20 feet. [...] It's just shocking imagery."
"All right. Explain this to me like I'm a two-year old ok because there
is an element to this thing I just cannot get through my thick head."
Will Smith was once ridiculed for being a clean-cut rapper, but today he's generating
criticism for all the wrong reasons. When Smith's palm met Chris Rock's cheek at the 2022 Oscars,
his brutal slap seemed like an anomaly for the star's otherwise pristine reputation. However,
he'd also caused controversy decades earlier over another act of apparent machismo.
"You not getting an erection. That's a real problem for me."
In 1993, Smith starred in Six Degrees of Separation, a story based on the life of con
artist David Hampton, who claimed to be the son of Sidney Poitier. The big screen adaptation of John
Guare's titular play called for a same-sex kiss. As reported by Entertainment Weekly,
the scene required Smith to smooch The Breakfast Club alum Anthony Michael Hall.
But Smith flat out refused, and the filmmakers had no choice but to use a body double for the
film. Smith's Six Degrees of Separation co-star, Sir Ian McKellen, told Time Out,
"He was a charmer and a good actor. But he did one silly thing. He refused
to kiss another boy on-screen, even though it was there in the script."
Smith later regretted turning down the kissing scene,
telling Entertainment Weekly that he was young and immature:
"I was thinking, 'How are my friends in Philly going to think about this?
I wasn't emotionally stable enough to artistically commit to that aspect of
the film. [...] This was a valuable lesson for me. Either you do it or you don't."
"And it is the worst kind of yellowness…to
be so scared of yourself that you put blindfolds on rather than deal with yourself."
Michael Jai White is celebrated as a pioneer for having portrayed the title role of Spawn,
the first ever black superhero in a mainstream
film. But there are some roles that are off limits for White.
"Get your hands off me!"
In the 1995 biopic Tyson, White was originally supposed to kiss co-star Clark Gregg,
who played Tyson's trainer Kevin Rooney. The boxer apparently used to kiss Rooney
after bouts. White recounted to VladTV that he didn't want to do a kiss, saying,
"I remember when that scene came up I was like, here we go. […] I'm not doing that,
bro. [...] Deep inside me I just didn't want to do that."
White agreed to a hug instead, insisting he
was not homophobic and would also turn down a kiss with a woman. White said,
"I'm just being true to who I am. [...] I don't like the image of
my kids seeing me kiss another woman other than their mother."
White claimed that he has scripts edited so that he doesn't have to kiss anyone, male or female.
Long before Luke Grimes played Kayce Dutton in Yellowstone, he depicted James Kent,
a sensitive vampire, in True Blood. However, as reported by BuzzFeed,
the actor quit the LGBTQ+ friendly supernatural show due to his discomfort
with depicting same-sex love scenes. Grimes left the show before his character, James,
could consummate his relationship with Lafayette, played by the late Nelsan Ellis.
Ellis accused him of homophobia in an interview with Vulture saying,
"We're all sitting there going, 'You quit your job because [you don't want
to play a gay part?] Really? [...] I'm over him."
Before leaving, Grimes allegedly declined to do any kissing or sex scenes with his
co-star and asked the writers to change the scripts, but they refused. Reportedly,
the True Blood cast and creators were upset by Grimes' unusual decision. In an email to Buzzfeed,
the actor's publicist insisted that he left the show due to scheduling conflicts. A few
months later, Grimes started production on Clint Eastwood's American Sniper.
Dog Day Afternoon remains one of Al Pacino's most iconic films. As a fictionalized version of a real
life bank robber, Pacino puts all of his well known talents and gusto into portraying a man
desperate to help his transgender lover, played by Chris Sarandon fund her gender-affirming surgery.
Although the film was groundbreaking for its time, it features a distinct lack of intimacy
between Pacino and Sarandon. But that wasn't always the case. Per IGN, the script initially
called for a kiss between the two actors at the end of the film, but Pacino refused.
In the Dog Day Afternoon DVD commentary, the actor discussed his unease with the original script,
arguing that the audience didn't need to see homosexual gestures to tell the story,
despite its LGBTQ+ nature. Subsequently, Pacino reasoned that he sought to depict,
quote, "the human conflict and the human cry for connection, and a kiss seemed to be exploitative."
In 2015, Kevin Hart opened up about his decision to turn down a role as
a gay rapper in the movie Tropic Thunder, a part that ultimately went to Brandon T.
Jackson. Speaking with The Breakfast Club, the comedian admitted that he would never
play a gay character or perform in scenes with same-sex intimacy.
"Come and get your chicken from the Lord."
While Hart eventually said he regretted not accepting the role,
he was forthcoming when discussing why he doesn't play gay characters.
Noting that the original script called for gay sex scenes, he said,
"It was real flagrant. It was a lot of stuff. And I was like, 'I can't do this.' Not because
I have any ill-will or disrespect. [...] I feel like I can't do that because I don't
think I'm going to dive into that role 100%, because of the insecurities about myself."
"Look at me."
Hart has been criticized for his remarks, with The Guardian arguing that they contribute to the
actor's long history of perceived homophobia. He's openly joked about his fear of having a gay son,
and was famously fired from hosting the 2018 Oscars for his tweets about the gay community.
"Man everyone's gay once in a while."
With so many soap operas featuring LGBTQ+ characters, it seems absurd that it was once
considered scandalous for a soap to showcase a same-sex kiss. Even more befuddling is that
said scandal occurred in 2009 — thanks to one actor's aversion to locking lips with his co-star.
Chris Engen starred on "The Young and the Restless" as Adam Newman,
but when he discovered that the show called for his character to kiss another man,
he stepped away. Per Pride, the actor allegedly began calling in sick and having talks with the
show's execs when he realized that Adam wasn't as straight as he thought. According to the Advocate,
Engen was set to kiss co-star Yani Gellman but vehemently declined. Insiders dished
to the outlet that the actor was uncomfortable with the storyline, believing the proposed kiss
to be further proof of his character taking an ominous turn. Subsequently, he left the
series and the decidedly more gay-friendly Michael Muhney was cast in the role instead.
As speculated by Soap Central, Engen's Catholic beliefs may have been at the
center of his opposition to kissing another man. The actor was heavily criticized for
his actions online prompting him to issue a statement on '00s social media staple MySpace.
Denying rumors about his behavior, Engen also insisted that he was not homophobic.
"I was not comfortable with many of the challenges they presented before me,
but I put my head down and did my job."