Matthew Morrison, the lead character on Fox’s hit TV series Glee, was recently profiled and interviewed by Elle magazine. While reading the interview, I couldn’t help but feel stabby, and as I read on, I continued to grow angrier and angrier, until I was ready to punch the interviewer in the face. The interview went as follows:
ELLE: So, Matt, you’re a musical theater star who’s been interviewed by The Advocate and much discussed on Manhunt.com, and you star in Glee, a program that’s referred to as “the gayest show on TV.” You must feel particularly proud being the first gay man to grace this page.MATTHEW MORRISON: I’m not gay.
ELLE: I had indeed read in various places that you’re straight, but in light of the circumstantial evidence, I wasn’t sure.
MM: I grew up singing and dancing, so people have been calling me gay since fifth grade. I’ve heard everything you could possibly hear about it. But I do love gay people, so I’m not going to act like I was insulted or angry about it.
ELLE: But do you ever do anything to suppress your gayest traits? Like, on a club dance floor, will you keep a lid on your best moves in order not to look too much like Tommy Tune out there?
MM: Oh, yeah. I’ll do what I refer to as “the shoulder dance,” just, you know, move my shoulders and do a little head bobbing.
ELLE: What was the first moment you realized you were a heterosexual being?
MM: I was really sexual from an early age. My first kiss was actually with two girls at the same time. One girl would be behind the bush with me for a minute and the other girl would be timing us. Then they’d switch.
I can’t imagine a more inappropriate and insulting interview. To Morrison’s credit, he handled the whole thing very well. I have to hope that he thought it was just as ridiculous as I do. It’s almost like the interviewer didn’t believe him. “You’re sure you’re not gay? Come on, not even a little? Not even a tiny bit? You’ve TOTALLY kissed a dude once. It’s okay, you can tell us.”
I'm Britni, a snarky bitch and generally awesome person. I write about sex, love, and bullshit. If sex-positivity, discussions about BDSM and kink, queer issues, and topics that are completely inappropriate by society's standards make you uncomfortable, then this blog is not for you.
Good Vibes 
16 Comments
"Faith", George Michael, Three Dollar Bill
Does it make me gay that I know that?
DEITER
We played a game at Christmas called "If you could go back in time and kill the fetus in utero of one future musician, thereby erasing the world of their future music forever, who would that fetus be?"
Mine was Fred Durst. So *Limp Bizkit.*
(Also: Robert Smith of The Cure. Blech.)
i read that article (naturally cuz I got Elle for Gaga) as i was reading it I kept having to tell myself that this is in fact a magazine that grown adult women read. The person who conducted the interview read as someone from Teen Bop magazine. I didn't enjoy it one bit. The article came off as completely "dumb"
xo mina
Elle is a rag, honestly. I remember an interviewer harassing Victoria Beckham so she would tell him her weight. She kept shutting him up but he brought it up at least five times.
I've stopped reading it.
Deiter, yay! You have a log in and can comment
You got the band and album right. I was gonna say you got the song wrong; it's from a hidden track. Then I looked it up and the hidden track comes right after "Faith." So technically, you're right.
Jill: my most embarrassing teenage crush? Fred Durst. I was *obsessed*. I moved home from college, back into my high school room. There was an entire wall of "Fred's Quotes," which were lyrics from Limp Bizkit songs. I thought he was so deep; the lyrics meant nothing!
However, I still stand by the fact that Three Dollar Bill Y'all$ and Significant Other were really good albums, if you forget that Fred Durst is attached to them.
I remember my friend in high school saying "Check these guys out, they're gonna be big!" and handing me the Three Dollar Bill album on cassette (ha). I loved it. So you're not alone there.
However I'd still go back in time and kill him as a zygote, especially after this horrifically disturbing video and lyrics. Violent themes galore here. Male entitlement, kidnap/rape fantasy and my favorite Girl Falls For Her Captor element. Gah. You should write about THIS crap.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb24kLd459Y
Ok, I'm done.
It's sad that people still have those stereotypes in their heads.
I've had to answer far more questions about the Gay Boyfriend being gay because people often say, "he doesn't act gay". Then I have to remind them that being gay isn't about hand gestures and a lisp that it's possible to like sports and men at the same time. It's amazing to be that society still feels the need to box people in like that. It's sad.
overall, the interview sucks. but i will say that i like the "what was the first moment you realized you were a heterosexual being" question. so often gay, bi or questioning folks are interrogated about their sexuality in this way – when did you know you were gay, when was your first experience with someone of the same sex, etc. barbara walters asked lady gaga when she first realized she liked women. i wanted to shout, "hey, babs! when did you realize you liked to suck cock?" because i doubt barbara would ever ask george clooney the same – when did he realize he liked women. and that's just wrong.
It's a shame that anyone thinks it's their business who he's fucking in the first place, let alone whether it's a boy or girl or both. I'm so freaking glad I stopped reading trash like Cosmo and Elle a few years ago.
Funny, but your comment about football players reminded me of something Hortense posted on Jezebel yesterday (Sunday) about how the trailer for "Valentine's Day" leaves out a key romance–that between Bradley Cooper's character and Eric Dane's character, who is a pro football player in the closet.
And he's so fucking hot.
Wait, what?
Oh yeah, the interview. Totally out of line.
So fucking hot. I love a guy who can sing. (And actually rap!)
Since moving to America I've been accused of being gay a gazillion times (well dressed, nice accent, not into sports, intellectual) and I don't take any offense to it either. In fact, I've actually had the opposite problem – I've actually had a couple of gay guys develop 'wandering hands' in bars or clubs because they think I can't possibly be straight (enough to make me feel deeply uncomfortable, including one who kept stroking the back of my neck.)
Just to point out that gay people are as entirely capable of stereotyping and compartmentalizing people as anybody else.
So you're saying all Europeans (or wherever you're from) are well-dressed, have a nice accent, aren't into sports and are intellectual?
;0)
Champagne and Benzedrine: I never said that gay people weren't capable of stereotyping. And I never made the assumption that it was a heterosexual person doing the interview.
However, stereotyping actually serves a different purpose in the gay community. Since gays are a minority, it's assumed that most people are heterosexual. But if you're not, you need to send out subtle signals to let other gay people know that you're "one of them." Yes, you can hit on me, because I'm gay.
It's kind of gay people's way of sending out signals to help each other recognize members of their community, since sexual orientation isn't something that you can tell about someone just by looking, like race is.
So sometimes, gay people stereotype *more* because it's something that is done within the community as a way of communicatind and identifying each other.
BTW, when I worked retail, we would play this game called "Gay or European?"
"Gay or European?"
That's HILARIOUS. That's the story of my life in America! And this is why you ROCK.
Whenever I see a man in a turtleneck I assume gay or European.
You find me a heterosexual American man in a turtleneck and I'll show you a Pro Choice Republican.