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Emmy award-winning director suggests little has changed in Tinseltown
Closeted Hollywood
Actors should 'stay in closet' to succeed
Todd Holland, an openly gay three-time Emmy award-winning American TV director, told an audience at Outfest, a Los Angeles gay and lesbian film festival, that his advice to young, gay male actors is to "stay in the closet."
Holland, who was a director on The Larry Sanders Show, was speaking on Sunday to a Directors Guild of America panel titled Taking it to the Streets: LGBT Directors Get Political. The LA Weekly reported that in his address to the young, gay and lesbian filmmakers he explained that it's a necessary career choice if a gay actor wants to succeed in Hollywood.
Kirby Dick, director of Outrage, a 2009 documentary about closeted gay politicians, replied to Holland's remark by saying: "I know where you're coming from, but it's a regressive argument." When Holland responded that he was merely being realistic, Dick, who is heterosexual, said that he believed that if "an A-list actor came out, it would have more impact on the culture than an A-list politician."
Holland's advice will come as no surprise to Rupert Everett, who has often blamed his career's lack of momentum on his refusal to stay in the closet, telling Kevin Sessums in a notoriously outspoken interview in April: "There is just very little opportunity for a fag. That's the reality. There isn't."
