Andrew Scott argues that people shouldn’t be described as ‘openly gay’ anymore
John Campbell Andrew Scott is enjoying his awards season. Scott is currently enjoying great reviews and lots of awards-season-attention for his role in All Of Us Strangers. It feels like Scott is old enough and been around long enough to know that’s not going to win anything, so he’s just enjoying the party. At the Golden Globes, he was dancing in his seat and hanging out with his new actor buddies. In AOUS, Scott is playing a character who is gay, and Scott is himself an out gay man. Note my use of “out” and not “openly.” Scott has taken issue with how people have described him and his performance, and during a roundtable discussion, he talked about just that in a clip which has gone viral:
All of Us Strangers actor Andrew Scott has been applauded for delivering his take on why the term “openly gay” should be dropped.
The actor, 47, recently took part in The Hollywood Reporter’s annual roundtable discussion series. He appeared alongside fellow actors Colman Domingo, Robert Downey Jr., Paul Giammati, Mark Ruffalo, as well as Jeffrey Wright.
In a clip that has been shared widely on social media in the last few days, Scott said he wanted to “make a pitch” for dropping the phrase.
“Hear me out, it’s an expression that we actually only ever hear in the media. You are never at a party and you say, ‘This is my openly gay…’ You never say it. Why do we put ‘openly’ in front of that adjective? We don’t say you’re ‘openly Irish,’ you don’t say you’re ‘openly left-handed’…”
He then clarified: “There’s something in it that’s a little near shamelessly.” Scott then said he would opt for just saying someone is “out” or “just don’t say anything at all.”
While this isn’t brought up in the discussion, I’m reminded of the use of “unapologetically” in the same vein. People used to say/write that a lot – What’s His Face was “unapologetically Black/gay/Irish/whatever.” People stopped using “unapologetically” and then replaced it with “openly.” Scott is right, built into that word, there’s something like a shock that someone would be OPENLY gay. You mean you’re NOT in the closet? You mean you don’t apologize for your existence??
I’m backing Andrew Scott in retiring the phrase “openly gay”
— Chris Jenkins (@chrisjenko) January 7, 2024
Photos courtesy of Getty, Avalon Red.
