Eric Dane, the artist formerly known as “McSteamy” on Grey’s Anatomy, recently gave The Hollywood Reporter a very thoughtful statement on his experience playing a closeted queer character on HBO’s Euphoria and how he hopes it contributed to the LGBTQ+ community. Unfortunately for him, his character is not one that the community is looking to claim. Like, at all.
“I’m acutely aware that I’m a straight actor playing a gay character,” Dane stated. “I think I’ve lent [the gay community] a voice in portraying this character, and I hope that everything I do is sincere because I wouldn’t want to misrepresent something that’s so important.” Sweet, right?
Dane’s character Cal Jacobs hit Euphoria episode one as a closeted married man having sex with a trans minor and filming it without her knowing (Jules lied about being 18, but still). That was literally just the start.
In the series since, we’ve seen him traumatize his son into a sadistic (possibly also closeted) monster, get his *** beat by a middle-schooler named Ashtray, leave his family in a drunken tirade, and presumably get sent on his way to the big house. Now, we don’t have time to unpack all of that, but needless to say he’s not exactly the community spokesman of our dreams.
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After his interview with THR went live, folks on Twitter certainly lent their voices:
Eric Dane: “I lent gay people a voice with this character”
The voice in question: pic.twitter.com/J1nSZCdpuE
— Meech (@MediumSizeMeech) June 8, 2022
Mmm no, his character is literally a minor abuser, nobody is identifying with that 💀💀💀
— ᴊᴏᴛxsᴀᴜʀᴜs ʀᴇx (@albertxrex) June 8, 2022
his character is a predator who does he think he’s lending a voice to pic.twitter.com/tLs4nDg2Jh
— andrew (@itsandrewyuh) June 8, 2022
do they think cal jacobs is some type of revolution rep for gay people… WE DONT WANT HIM! https://t.co/vp53hJx90o
— ceo of kory (@korysverse) June 8, 2022
and what is he talking about lending a voice lmfao his character is a predator
— tookie de la crème (@mangoxylophone) June 8, 2022
a voice??? dude you played a sex offender🥴
— j a x 💕 (@chxse999x) June 8, 2022
The gays are okay if a str8 man plays this role. Did he really think he was doing us a service by playing this character? pic.twitter.com/qKLcmmuBtv
— _NickRyan_ 🪐🍷 (@_nickryan_) June 8, 2022
Dane’s hope of community representation even had a couple of the girls jokingly ready to stop representation period.
me after reading this pic.twitter.com/6iUzqJ5zyN
— 🍂Seth :3🍂 (@sethbrooker_) June 9, 2022
alright let’s pack it up pic.twitter.com/jxKfIF0jee
— ❤️🔥✨ (@rxctly) June 9, 2022
To be absolutely fair: Cal Jacobs’ character was given a pretty moving, tragic gay romance backstory last year in the episode “Ruminations: Big and Little Bullys”, which was lauded on Twitter at the time and has come to be one of the highest rated episodes of the series on IMDb.
With that storyline probably in the fore of his mind for this character, it’s understandable that Dane would think he could have a positive impact on the community. That said, it’s pretty clear that many fans think he’s dead wrong on that one.
Brian
Count me among the minority who say that his statement is mostly fine. Clumsy, but fine.
The sad truth is that some gay/bisexual men are horrible — maybe they’re physically violent like this character, or maybe they’re just bad in some other way. His character is an exaggerated version of a real thing.
At the very least, I’m glad that we’ve moved past the time when every gay man was a trope (a straight girl’s sassy friend, etc.) Television should show gay leads, heroes, villains, of all sorts.
marxist_homo
Queerty keeps getting stupider and stupider.
1) If you’ve got an issue with his character, maybe you should blame the show’s producers and writers. He didn’t create the character. He’s an actor. He just acts.
2) I think it’s a good thing to have a range of nuanced representations of queer people, including people we might not like and who do bad things. Puppies and angels do no wrong. Humans do — including gay humans.
I agree with Brian. Representations “of all sorts” are what we need (heroes and villains and everything in between) — unless, of course, we don’t want to be seen as a diverse group of complex human beings.
MrGoldman
Agree. They are just following peoples reactions on Twitter to @Popcrave, who misrepresented the actual article by taking one quote out of context. Queerty then amplifies the nonsense. It’s incredibly lazy writing!
CatholicXXX
1.) None of the characters in that show are likable except for Fezco and Lexi
2.) “Jules lied about being 18, but still” There is no “but still.” People don’t go around asking people they’re going to hookup with to show their ID. As far as he knew, she was 18. Sex apps are responsible.
3.) He’s the product of a f-ed up time in an f-ed up place with f-ed up parents
man5996853
1. Fezco is drug dealer. You probably don’t have a problem with that but, whatever.
2. Good luck with that excuse in court when you are arrested for banging a minor.
3. Most people are the products of their environment and traumas. Not all people, even ones who endured similarly f-ed up times and f-ed up places, make such monstrous choices.
MrGoldman
Nice of you to eliminate context and then find a bunch of idiots in Twitter who also take all out of context to be llliiikke sooo, literally like offended. Dane is clearly aware that he is playing a character who becomes a monster after living a closeted life and denying his true self. Where is he claiming that the character he plays is some type of LGBT role model? Are you people familiar with the concept of a cautionary tale?
He said before that, “Cal is living this double life, holding up this facade of having everything on the outside, controlled and pristine, while everything on the inside is a battle of epic proportions,” Dane says. “I’ve had struggles in my past that invited me to lead that life of secrecy. I accepted the invitation wholeheartedly. … While the circumstances specifically might not be the same, the feelings certainly are.”
johncp56
I agree no! but as a gay guy tthat knew i was gay really young, came out at 14, I like older men and would have done him in a heartbeat
Godabed
First of all Cal Jacobs character didn’t actively seek out children, he sought out consenting adults. So his character is not a pedophile or ephebophile. It just so happened that one of the people he slept with lied about their age and they were underage. Which happens in the LGBYTQIAAP community … ALOT. (this is why you always ask for ID)
I firmly disagree with the twitter fingers about what Eric Dane said, Cal’s story was a all to typical one that happens in the gay community. Repressed gay men marrying women to fit the pressures of their families or their father’s footsteps. We all know DL men, or men who cheat with men at one point or another. Cal in season 2, embraced that truth about himself. Although the way he went about the reveal was toxic, it’s not like this character was apart of the community and understood there were better ways to embrace his sexuality.
dario717
He also played my least favorite of Phoebe Halliwell’s boyfriends. Just saying.
alexpof
lent voice to closet cases, but weak fragil cristal people whines about everything
dbmcvey
I think I’ve made the right choice in not watching this.