Author Bret Easton Ellis has been tweeting that actor Matt Bomer is too gay to play the lead role in the film version of Fifty Shades of Grey. "OK I'll say it. Matt Bomer isn't right for Christian Grey because he is openly gay," he wrote, adding that "Fifty Shades of Grey demands an actor that is genuinely into women. Get it?!?" In stating his opinion, he is reviving the dispute about whether openly gay actors playing heterosexual characters can be accepted by American audiences. This debate has been raging of late because more and more actors are coming out of the closet and continuing to maintain their careers. In 2010 Newsweek printed an article about this topic, titled "Straight Jacket," written by journalist Ramin Setoodeh. The article concluded that actors such as Sean Hayes and Jonathan Groff, actors who had publically acknowledged their homosexuality, were no longer able to play heterosexual roles because audiences would not "buy" them playing straight.
Is this true? Must gay actors kiss straight roles goodbye?
