MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

ABSTRACT

 Gay rumors in Hollywood abound and they have for years. We cannot assume that where there is smoke that there is fire, but many celebrities who have been rumored as queer have come out of the closet: Ellen Page, Maria Bello, Victor Garber, Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Cynthia Nixon, Rosie O’Donnell, Ellen DeGeneres, Matt Bomer, Raven Symone, Gillian Anderson, George Takei, Jodie Foster among others. There are many men in Hollywood rumored to be closeted for the sake of their career; for instance, Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Ryan Seacrest, Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, James Franco, Vin Diesel, Chace Crawford, Tom Hardy, and Jeremy Renner. It appears to be a commonly held belief in Hollywood that identifying as anything other than straight is damaging to a career.  In reactions to these rumors, it appears that men respond in kind with performances of masculinity or heterosexuality. I argue that these actors might see these performances of hetero-masculinity as necessary for job security in the Hollywood marketplace. 

 In this essay, I investigate the hegemonic, heteronormative culture of Hollywood and how actors perform masculinity in reaction to gay rumors. I shall systematically (albeit briefly) approach the concepts of masculinity and heterosexuality and how they are coded in American culture via R. W. Connell, Harry Brod, and Judith Butler.  Using Richard Schechner’s concept of performativity and Louis Althusser’s concept of interpellation, I illustrate how male stars, hailed as gay, perform masculinity as a response to gay rumors. I categorize each example in a typology of reactions: Deniers, Defenders, Disassociators, Dodgers, and Daters, and I conclude with specific reactionary examples (in each category) of Hollywood heartthrobs that have been acquired from printed interviews in magazines and on the Internet.