Sunday, June 28, 2009

Another Soap Star Out Due to Gay Storyline

I did not pick a very good week to go on vacation! A lot happened in the world of gay soap characters this week that I will be attempting to catch up on and then write about tonight.

One piece of news is that yet another soap actor will no longer be playing a role due to objections over a gay storyline. This time, the story is One Life to Live's Kyle and Fish and the person in question is actress Patricia Mauceri, who has been fired from the show for refusing to play a scene in which her character, Carlotta Vega, mistakenly thinks her son Cristian is gay and is accepting of what she thinks is his sexual orientation.

The scene is said to be a comic one, in which Cristian tries to convince his mother that he really is straight. Mauceri's problem was with the depiction of her character as being someone who would accept a gay son and she reportedly refused to play the scene unless it was rewritten and didn't go against her beliefs. So, in other words, she refused to play it unless her own homophobic views were incorporated into the show as her character's views.

One Life to Live responded by showing her the door and recasting the role with former Guiding Light star Saundra Santiago.

Why do people like Mauceri and Chris Engen even want to be in the business of acting if they're not going to be able to leave their own feelings and prejudices aside to play a role? Seriously, go into a business where you won't have to pretend to be something you're not, if it bothers you that much!

The most irritating part is that you know these people would have no problem playing a killer or an adulterer or just about anything else except a gay role or, in Mauceri's case, a supportive mother of a 'gay' character.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Patricia.

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