BTW, for straight women who are disappointed that yet another thin and sensitive and strangely cute guy is gay please remember: you still have Sean Hayes, Clay Aiken, Anderson Cooper, David Hyde Pierce, Kevin Spacey and many others to choose from.
But as a gay man (I think I’ve mentioned being gay before haven’t I?) I have to send major thanks to Neil Patrick Harris. It is so wonderful to see a celebrity come out who-
1- still has a lucrative career (nothing against Danny Pintauro or Dick Sargent or George Takei but really…)
2- didn’t just get arrested and caught on tape for trying to blow coke and an undercover narcotics officer in a 747 restroom ("…George Michael, meet Governor McGreevey… ")
3- hasn’t denied it repeatedly in the past (yeah Richard Chamberlain, I’m lookin’ at ya…)
4- doesn’t have a book deal for some extra cash and press (yeah Richard Chamberlain, I’m lookin’ at ya…)
I think you’re guilty of violating the 11th commandment “Thou shalt not profile”. Just because a guy is thin, sensitive, not particularly masculine, rich and successful but never mentions a wife or female significant other and has lots of gay characteristics and won’t answer questions about his sexuality (except Spacey who denies being gay and Aiken who originally denies it but now won’t discuss it) doesn’t mean they’re gay.
It just means the odds are 99.9993% that they are.
And there’s always Ricky Martin as well. We know he’s straight because he says he is and I believe him.
Takei may work as much or more but he makes only a fraction of the income. Takei works for non-profit theater companies probably making in the $2,000 per week range while Harris is a Broadway star- an easy ten times that- and current sitcom star- an easy 50 times that. Besides which, Harris is not considered just another washed up child star- he’s a quite decent actor who works with name talent in well produced and funded vehicles.
As far as credibility is concerned, Harris parodied himself (hysterically and, we now know, quite fictionally) in H&KGTW, but generally he works in very respected and critically acclaimed productions (Assassins and Cabaret on Broadway [among others] and his current sitcom and the occasional movie and Special Guest Starring roles on major hit shows like Will & Grace playing characters who are not based on Doogie Howser.
Takei’s highest profile gigs for the past 40 years have ALL been based on Sulu or on himself as a has been actor who played Sulu (e.g. his appearances on Third Rock from the Sun and Futurama). He does cipher roles on ho-hum guest star shows like Murder She Wrote (playing a Japanese janitor with a heavy accent at that), OR for his other claim to fame- THE HOWARD STERN SHOW. He’s not a bad actor at all, has an innate dignity, tells great stories about his days in the biz and in Japanese American interrment camps and from all reports he’s a super nice and intelligent guy and has one of the greatest voices in show business, but I’d have to give the nudge to Harris as being closer to the top of his game and having the respect of the industry.
Well, actually on Wednesday, his publicist issued a statement in response to some current rumors claiming “He’s not of that persuasion.” The statement got so much flack on the gossip pages (evidently, NPH’s “persuasion” has been an open secret for years), that the current statement issued on Friday seems to be an attempt at damage control.
Still, it’s pretty cool and I don’t see why it makes him any less credible playing a straight male.
Not having read the text of the original statement, I have a feeling it was a pro forma denial put out by the publicist. NPH has thanked his boyfriend, David Burtka, in the liner notes or whatever you call the "thank you"s in a Playbill for quite some time.
Does this one work? Or if you search for Neil Patrick Harris on that site, it’s the second link. (kinda amusing actually, the first link is “NEIL PATRICK HARRIS: ‘I’M GAY’” immediately above “PUBLICIST DENIES NEIL PATRICK HARRIS GAY …”) Evidently the publicist issued the statement in response to a rumor that NPH helped his boyfriend land a role on “How I Met Your Mother.” And, yeah, I suspect you’re right and the publicist just made a standard, generic denial without first consulting NPH.
Now if only Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum would finally declare their love for each other, all would be right in this world.
I watched one episode of Howser voluntarily. After that, whenever I had to babysit, I was stuck with that cause the tykes loved it. I really considered the star to be a bad actor.
Jeez, at least Burtka is an actor in his own right. When I moused over the link, I was afraid that the guy had his own Wiki mention just for being Harris’ boyfriend!
On my guiltiest pleasure website, perezhilton.com, he made a celebratory post for Neil Patrick Harris’ formal coming out and called for Anderson Cooper, Jodie Foster, Kevin Spacey, Clay Aiken, Queen Latifah, Ricky Martin, Matt Dallas, Wentworth Miller, Richard Simmons, and Sean Hayes to follow suit. I have no idea if any of these actors are gay or not, apparently Perez thinks they are.
Hell, I don’t live anywhere near there, but I thought that this was common knowledge. I know I’ve read about him and his man in either The Advocate or Out, and not in some little blurb either. I thought he’d come out years ago – which is why I and my (straight, doesn’t read gay media) found his role in Harold & Kumar so screamingly funny.
