Andrew Scott shared his discomfort with how his sexuality is addressed in media language during a recent chat with Variety. He said:
“It’s wonderful to be able to talk about sexuality in an open way. But I do feel sometimes, other people — and by other people, I mean straight people — don’t have to explain or talk about their sexuality every time they go to work.”
The actor criticized the term ‘openly gay’ and continued:
“The idea that I’m being defiant by just being exactly who I am… Be open about it? Why wouldn’t you be open about it?”
He offered to use ‘out’ instead:
“But the word ‘openly,’ for me, just seems a little loaded.”
The ‘Sherlock’ Actor Doesn’t Like What The Label Implies
Scott first publicly addressed his sexuality in 2013 and has since been an advocate against using ‘openly gay’ to describe him or other queer celebrities. He once told The Hollywood Reporter:
“I’m going to make a pitch for getting rid of the expression ‘openly gay.’ It’s an expression that we only ever hear in the media. You are never at a party and you say this is my openly gay [friend]. You never say it. Why do we put ‘openly’ in front of that adjective? You don’t say you’re openly Irish, you don’t say you’re openly left-handed.”
The ‘Fleabag’ actor explained:
“There’s something in it that’s a little near ‘shamelessly.’ You’re open about it? I’d nearly prefer shamelessly. If you’ve got to say it to understand it, just say ‘out’ possibly, or, you know what, just don’t say it at all. Now I think it’s just time to park it.”
He Values Positive Representation Of The LGBTQ+
Andrew Scott was ‘encouraged’ to keep his sexuality a secret in his early career but later chose to be open about it. He also contributed to the queer representation in the visual media by playing a gay screenwriter in 2023’s ‘All of Us Strangers.’
The movie followed Adam as he came across his parents’ ghosts and talked to them about things he never could before their death. Scott’s performance received critical acclaim. The actor commented on the adaptation of Taichi Yamada’s ‘Strangers’ in an Attitude chat:
“When we read positive things or see representation on screen, when we see ourselves, we think: ‘Oh, well, we can forge a way in the world’. That’s why a movie like this is so important, because it’s incredibly compassionate and tender, but it also doesn’t erase the fact that it’s painful and it can be lonely being gay. There’s a certain thorny path that we all have to go to in order to find love, not just in another person, but in ourselves.”
Check out Andrew Scott’s full interview with Variety here.
