Lukas Gage Speaks on Kit Connor’s Coming Out Ordeal

metroweekly.com:

Smile 2 star, who came out publicly in 2023, noted how he experienced a backlash in 2021 from viewers of The White Lotus, who mistakenly believed that Gage was a straight actor taking a gay role.“When I did [come out], my friends and family knew I wanted to keep [it] sacred for myself.

I felt like I didn’t need to prove anything to anyone,” Gage told Attitude magazine. “But I was also dealing with people coming for me, being like, ‘Why is he stealing a gay role?

He’s just a straight guy, how dare he, blah blah blah.'”Gage — who grabbed headlines after his character, Dillon, was part of an eyebrow-raising sex scene with Murray Bartlett’s character, Armond, in The White Lotus — is torn about the idea of straight actors playing gay roles.“I’m in the camp where there’s of course certain scenarios,” he said. “It’s an injustice to not cast with diversity and inclusion, to tell the most authentic story.

In other less specific cases, it’s important to remember it is acting, and we should be free to play as many different kinds of roles as possible.“But it’s tricky, because there has to be grace and generosity.