I don’t know if you’ve been following this, but in the last couple weeks there has been a big uproar in the entertainment industry when Ramin Setoodeh wrote an article in Newsweek claiming that gay actors could not “play straight.” This was a response to watching the broadway play Promises, Promise where he was unconvinced by leading man Sean Hayes’s performance.  Since then, the after math includes venomous retaliation from fellow cast member Kristen Chenoweth and fellow gay Alan Cumming, among others, who were appalled by Setoodeh’s remarks.

Now, I understand the uproar.  I get why they would come running to the defense of Sean and other’s like him.  However, I couldn’t quite gel with their arguments.  And I have figured out why when I read an article posted by the genius himself, Aaron Sorkin.  Immediately I felt “this is my opinion.” Funny that, I knew I had an opinion, I just couldn’t articulate what it was.

Me trying to recount it would only butcher the grace in which he writes, so I have posted Sorkin’s response in it’s entirety below.

Now That You Mention It, Rock Hudson Did Seem Gay

This is a sentence I never thought I would type: I’m coming to the defense of a theatre critic.

Newsweek‘s Ramin Setoodeh wrote an article last week titled “Straight Jacket” in which he argues that gay actors can’t and shouldn’t play straight characters. His “Exhibit A” in the piece is Sean Hayes, the stunningly gifted actor who came to our attention playing Jack MacFarland on the much beloved NBC half-hour comedyWill and Grace. (This was back when NBC broadcast television shows.) Mr. Hayes just opened in the Broadway revival of Promises, Promises, a 1968 musical by Neil Simon, Burt Bacharach and Hal David that was based on The Apartment, the Academy Award-winning film by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. (Izzy) Diamond that starred Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. Are you following so far?

It doesn’t really matter, because all you need to know is that Sean Hayes plays C.C. Baxter in this great show, and that C.C. Baxter is a man who is attracted to women.

Ramin Setoodeh, unlike the overwhelming majority of the people in the audience at the two preview performances I attended, was unhappy with Sean Hayes’ performance. This reaction was not due to Mr. Hayes’ acting, singing, dancing, comedy, unique charm and exceptional rapport with the audience. Mr. Setoodeh’s problem with the star’s performance was that in real life, Mr. Hayes is gay. And as if the studio had given the screenwriter a note that the story had to be spicier, Mr. Setoodeh is gay as well.

Much is being made of the Newsweek piece. Much should be. I’m proud to say that my friend, Kristin Chenoweth, who stars opposite Mr. Hayes in the show (and about whose performance I can’t possibly be objective — she’s sensational and we’ll leave it at that) led the charge — posting an online rebuttal to Mr. Setoodeh in which she called him homophobic.

For an actress who makes her living and her reputation on Broadway, throwing down with a prominent theatre critic isn’t something you do as a career move. In her response to Setoodeh, Ms. Chenoweth made good point after good point after good point…

…and missed the point.

So did Setoodeh.

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