'Neighbours' star comes under fire for calling gay stripper character 'straight-acting' and 'normal'

Matt Wilson, star of Aussie soap Neighbours, ignited a firestorm on social media yesterday (June 29) after a series of problematic, anti-gay comments he made about his character during an appearance on The Wright Stuff.

Wilson plays Aaron Brennan, a gay male stripper who first came to Ramsay Street in 2015.

During his appearance on the Channel 5 topical chat show yesterday, Matt was asked whether he’d gotten any flack for being a straight actor in a gay role. Matt said: “We’ve had this argument come up a couple of times. There are a lot of people who think you should have a gay actor playing a gay character, but that’s like saying you should get someone in a wheelchair to play a character in a wheelchair.”

Drinking game for gays and non-gays. Take a drink each time you cringe while watching this clip from this morning’s @5WrightStuff 😣 pic.twitter.com/wxiXdcM1qv

— WayneDavid🏳️‍🌈 (@WayneDavid81) June 29, 2017

Going on to discuss how he approached playing Aaron, Marr said: “We specifically designed the character to act straight and act normal. When I say ‘normal’, I mean he’s not like the characters on Modern Family where they are flamboyant and camp and they walk around tiptoeing. That creates separation – that’s us and them.

“It shouldn’t be like that. It should be all equal and no-one should have a problem with that. The way other characters act around my character is that there is never a problem at all.”

Viewers were quick to pick up on Matt’s statements, including his suggestion that gay men who are ‘straight-acting’ are somehow more ‘normal’ than those who are camp. He also suggested that the gay characters in Modern Family are somehow abnormal due to their flamboyance.

His description is awful, has he had no media training at all or is he just that homophobic. Using words like ‘normal’ isn’t acceptable

— John (@Everyday_Man) June 30, 2017

I find his sentiment offensive; you need to behave like a straight person to be considered “normal”. It’s 2017, let’s drop the stereotypes

— JJ (@JamieScotto) June 30, 2017

Matt seems to understand that the statements were inappropriate, as he took to Twitter to apologise. Responding to those calling him out on social media, Matt wrote: “Hi guys. Agreed. Choice of words wasn’t right and apologies if it comes across as offensive!

Hi guys. Agreed. Choice of words wasn’t right and apologies if it comes across as offensive! The message I want to get across (and this is –

— Matt Wilson (@MattyWilson88) June 29, 2017

“The message I want to get across (and this is in support of one of my closest friends as he is having issues coming out) that he sick and tired of people assuming that because his sexuality is different to the guy next to him that they ‘expected him to act different’.

“This isn’t the case, and shouldn’t be preached on tv. Once again – apologies for offending you, I trust you can see through this and see we are promoting the same msg.”

The Wright Stuff has previously been the forum for problematic comments about gay men. Last year, a post on the show’s Facebook page described the HIV prevention drug PrEP as a “free £20 million drug for gays who won’t use condoms”.

‘Neighbours’ star comes under fire for calling gay stripper character ‘straight-acting’ and ‘normal’

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