Sara Krulwich/The New York Times Kristin Chenoweth and Sean Hayes in the Broadway revival of “Promises, Promises.”Not that we have any beef with Kristin Chenoweth to begin with, but we’d think long and hard about picking a war of words with her after this. On Friday, Ms. Chenoweth, the Tony Award-winner and star of “Promises, Promises,” posted a lengthy online rebuttal to a Newsweek article that she called “horrendously homophobic” for contending that gay actors could not play straight characters, and citing her “Promises, Promises” co-star Sean Hayes as an example.
In the original Newsweek article, called “Straight Jacket” and published online in April, Ramin Setoodeh wrote: “While it’s OK for straight actors to play gay (as Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger did in ‘Brokeback Mountain’), it’s rare for someone to pull off the trick in reverse.”
Among the openly gay actors Mr. Setoodeh cited was Jonathan Groff, Ms. Chenoweth’s co-star on “Glee,” of whom he wrote: “When he smiles or giggles, he seems more like your average theater queen.” Mr. Setoodeh also criticized Mr. Hayes for his performance in “Promises, Promises,” writing, “Frankly, it’s weird seeing Hayes play straight. He comes off as wooden and insincere, like he’s trying to hide something, which of course he is.”
In her response, which was published at Newsweek.com as well as Broadway.com and Autostraddle.com, Ms. Chenoweth wrote: “This article offends me because I am a human being, a woman and a Christian. For example, there was a time when Jewish actors had to change their names because anti-Semites thought no Jew could convincingly play Gentile.”
She added:
Audiences aren’t giving a darn about who a person is sleeping with or his personal life. Give me a break! We’re actors first, whether we’re playing prostitutes, baseball players, or the Lion King. Audiences come to theater to go on a journey. It’s a character and it’s called acting, and I’d put Hayes and his brilliance up there with some of the greatest actors period.
At the end of her letter, Ms. Chenoweth wrote, “No one needs to see a bigoted, factually inaccurate article that tells people who deviate from heterosexual norms that they can’t be open about who they are and still achieve their dreams.” She added: “I encourage Newsweek to embrace stories which promote acceptance, love, unity and singing and dancing for all!”