Andrew Garfield Offends LGBTQ Community With Tone Deaf Comments

He also learned about gay culture by watching 'RuPaul's Drag Race.'

Andrew Garfield
Getty

Image by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for AFI

Andrew Garfield

Andrew Garfield is facing major criticism after claiming that he is a “gay man right now without the physical act,” and that his research for playing a gay man in a recent role consisted of binge watching RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Garfield is currently the lead in a London production of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, a critically acclaimed play about the gay community set during the most frightening stage of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s.

The Amazing Spider-Man star and Emma Stone’s ex readily admitted that he is not gay, so when he was offered the part he immediately questioned his “right… to play this wonderful gay role,” according to the Gay Times. “Maybe I’ll have an awakening later in my life, which I’m sure will be wonderful and I’ll get to explore that part of the garden, but right now I’m secluded to my area, which is wonderful as well. I adore it.”

But this is when Garfield’s comments started to get more and more controversial. He revealed that he would watch RuPaul’s Drag Race on days off to prepare for the role, and suggested that the show was responsible for the bulk of his research.

“This is my life outside of this play,” he said. “I am a gay man right now just without the physical act – that’s all.”

Garfield’s comment has come across as tone deaf to those in the LGBTQ ​community who view gay culture as something an actor can’t just step into or out of by watching a reality show. Garfield’s claim that he is essentially gay because of his dedication to a role seemingly erases all of the hardship and oppression that gay people have struggled through for years and that is inextricable from the gay experience.

Andrew Garfield has yet to speak out in response to this backlash.

This article grosses me out.Ur a talented guy,but seem to be completely oblivious to what is coming out of ur mouth. https://t.co/td9DPhVRmP
The straight white privilege of Andrew Garfield. Must be nice to be able to be gay without any of the hardships. https://t.co/Amu9suUkDM
Andrew Garfield: RuPaul's Drag Race and Tony Kushner made me gay
Me: pic.twitter.com/iear2N1XVz
But like also why tf is he preparing for a play about the TRAGEDY OF THE AIDS CRISIS by watching Drag Race. That's obtuse at best.

Latest in Pop Culture