Cynthia Nixon 'Horrified' Over 'Homophobic' Newsweek Article (VIDEO)

Since Ramin Setoodeh wrote an article in Newsweek last month criticizing Sean Hayes' performance in 'Promises, Promises' because gays can't play straight, he has been met with a chorus of protest and people are still weighing in.

Cynthia Nixon, who is gay and best known for her decade-plus role as (straight) Miranda Hobbes on 'Sex and the City,' also takes issue with Setoodeh's comments.

"I was horrified," she told CBS News. "I was just horrified. I mean, look, there have been gay actors playing straight characters as long as there has been a Hollywood. And you know, maybe the general public didn't know that they were gay. But they were very convincing. And, you know, we're actors. You know. Sometimes we play astronauts. We're not astronauts. You know.

"I mean, like it's not such a stretch. And I feel like at a time when people are feeling more and more secure about coming out, this kind of thing just sends people running back in the closet. It's just so harmful."

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Comments

[saywha]

11:28 AM on 06/14/2010

Is the suggestion here that Nixon has always been a lesbian? I think some of these females are just testing the new "in" thing and when they get bored, it'll be on to something else. We've had a few examples of this already (e.g. Ann Heche). It's one thing to be "born" with a certain sexual orientation, but something quite different to be just sexually promiscuous, gay or straight.

[tikitaka]

12:24 PM on 05/31/2010

She is so hot: http://www.actressscene.blogspot.com/search/label/Cynthia%20Nixon

[gimmeabreak444]

05:48 AM on 05/29/2010

horrified by nesweek article.

i think you meant to say "horrified by her reflection in the mirror."

[Lefty83]

03:24 AM on 05/29/2010

Ian McKellen

[JEG88]

12:51 AM on 05/29/2010

Portia de Rossi is another example of a lesbian playing straight roles well - I'm thinking of "Arrested Development" particularly. I've been trying to convince my dad that she and Ellen DeGeneres are married for a year now, that's how convincing she is!

[GO-BAMA]

12:13 AM on 05/29/2010

Gee ... what insight.

[Chroesus]

12:02 AM on 05/29/2010

I think she is a good solid actor. Also, If you did not know whether a person who is acting was gay or straight you would never be able to tell the difference. Once they come out it people have altered perceptions of their performance. It is all just perception.

[slobone]

10:53 PM on 05/28/2010

She's right of course, but you know I think that columnist had a point. There are definitely actors who are SO gay they have trouble playing straight. TR Knight or David Hyde Pierce, for example. I never bought for a second that their characters were straight, and that was before either of them came out.

Straight actors can have the same problem. I never bought Robin Williams or Val Kilmer as gay in the movies where they were supposed to be. Even Kevin Kline, a fine actor, isn't convincing as a gay man, and he's done it twice now.

Of course it's dumb to make it into a generalization. But there's definitely a kernel of truth in there...

[westreal]

11:35 AM on 05/28/2010

I Like her

[ThosC747]

11:34 AM on 05/28/2010

I would never have believed Heath Ledger was straight after his performance in Brokeback Mountain. His heterosexuality did not distract an iota from his believability as a repressed gay. I imagine the problem with the Newsweek writer was that he was thinking more about himself and his own sexuality than about the show or Sean Hayes.

Still Sean Hayes once said that he would not discuss his sexuality because it would interfere with the audience's ability to believe his performance, so the Newsweek writer wasn't saying anything that Sean Hayes hasn't already said himself.

[TruGal]

08:48 AM on 05/28/2010

If I'm being totally honest, during the sex scenes on the series she and "Steve", her TV hubby, had, I was distracted knowing she is gay. That being said, she is an excellent actress, because they were some of the steamiest sex scenes of the whole series.

[westreal]

11:35 AM on 05/28/2010

U R So Full Of It. I don't believe you at all.

[up420oz]

11:04 PM on 05/28/2010

BLPOV here. (big lib)

It crossed my mind during the episode too, breaking the story line.


Redheads are so hot, so the break didn't last long.

[peowlemeow]

08:28 AM on 05/28/2010

She didn't come across as all that straight in Sex and The City but I figured that was the lawyer in her character.Or maybe just how I saw her based on her looks.

[LMPE]

02:30 AM on 05/28/2010

There's gotta be a way to make all the homophobes ruin themselves.

[DannyGee]

11:56 PM on 05/27/2010

"horrified"? Really, over an article?

[roch20]

03:04 AM on 05/28/2010

Hey, you can leave your "peekaboo" attitude for Christmas! She has the right to express whatever the h3ll she wants, or she thinks makes her feel good! Calm down, have a cup of tea ... it's only Friday!

[DannyGee]

08:09 AM on 05/28/2010

Nixon might want to calm down. I'm fine. Just surprised that "to cause to feel horror" is the appropriate response to reading an article by a gay man about another gay man. Horrified would be a little more appropriate to describe the first American soldier to find a concentration camp in WW2.

[Proud Bay Man]

10:46 PM on 05/27/2010

The one whom I was the most like, OMG was Craig T Nelson. Blew my mind.

[mommashelley1]

03:57 AM on 05/28/2010

Craig T Nelson is gay? Whoa where have I been ?

[DevonTexas]

11:29 AM on 05/28/2010

It's okay. He was surprised to find out too!

[MiraMcB]

02:26 PM on 05/28/2010

O RLY? That IS a surprise. I bet his wife would be surprised to know that, too. And his kids.

LOL!

[Proud Bay Man]

03:26 PM on 05/28/2010

Like marriage means anything in Hollywood.