Actor Luke Evans acknowledged he was gay back in 2002. So why is he — or his publicist — trying to put him back in the closet? The 32-year old Welshman has since starred in over a dozen films, including “Clash of the Titans” and “Robin Hood,” and next year will be the star of the highly-anticipated “The Hobbit” series. So, why is it that a very successful Hollywood star, who in 2002 told The Advocate,Â
“Well it was something I’d spoken to a lot of people about, including my boyfriend at the time – we’ve broken up now – but at the time when I just got Taboo, I knew that even though my part was a straight character, everybody knew me as a gay man and, in my life in London, I never tried to hide it. I knew I was going to have to do interviews with gay magazines, so I thought, ‘Well, I’m going to have to be open’. It’s who I am. And if people don’t like it, then I don’t want their jobs. I’ve never been a very good liar, which is another thing…”
Monday, in “Is Luke Evans Gay? Publicist Tries to Get His Story Straight,” Michael Jensen, Editor at AfterElton, writes, “AfterElton.com does not out actors, celebrities or anyone else. But nor do we ‘in’ them or help their management to do the same.”
Jensen has done a good bit of (keyboard) legwork, researching Evans’ Wikipedia page and following its recent changes, deleting the homosexuality note, even contacting Evans’ agent, who responded to Jensen with a less-than honest comment, effectively saying nothing.
Upon finding mention of a girlfriend, Jensen, fairly, writes, “So Evans was bisexual? Many people have a sexuality that is fluid or realize their sexuality might not be just what it was when they were younger. Still, all and good. An out bisexual actor is every bit as great as a gay one.”
And, like a good journalist, Jensen followed up. Finding nothing. Was the item a plant?
Why does this feel like a 1950s Rock Hudson story?
Wednesday, Jeremy Kinser at The Advocate — the publication responsible for the 2002 quote in which Evans outed himself — noted that Evans “was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness,” and wrote,
In a phone conversation with The Advocate, Evans’s publicist acknowledged that her client gave the revealing interview in 2002, but reiterated what she told others who have contacted her for statements — that she does not comment on the personal lives of her clients. She also said that Evans wants his work to speak for itself and that he will no longer address his personal life with the media.
Paris Barclay, a respected, Emmy Award-winning television director-producer and Advocatecontributor, who interviewed Evans in 2002, gave the following exclusive statement:
“I interviewed Luke Evans on July 7, 2002, via telephone. It was recorded, and I very carefully (and slowly) transcribed the interview myself. The interview took about 45 minutes, and he was as absolutely warm, winning, garrulous, and open as the snippets I used in the article would indicate. I relistened to it tonight and smiled — he’s a very dry, wickedly funny young man.
“I can’t help but believe those were his true feelings at the time, but for the record, I haven’t spoken to him since and a lot can happen in nine years. Obviously, a lot has. Here’s what I know: he’s an immensely talented actor, singer, and a very capable swashbuckler. I expect we’ll hear from him directly before long, and he’ll deal with this situation with integrity, class, and great good humor.”
Of course, with no class, Gawker’s Brian Moylan Monday, in, “Hollywood’s Next Big Action Star Is Gay,” writes,
Have you heard of action star Luke Evans? Maybe not yet, but he’s in a bunch of big upcoming action movies. That means its time for his PR team to shove him back in the closet. But that’s going to be pretty tough since he’s already talked about his boyfriends and love of gay porn.
Evans (no relation to Chris “Captain America” Evans, though we don’t doubt he wouldn’t mind having relations with him) is a former theater actor who is going to be costarring in some of the next few years hottest titles like The Hobbitt, The Three Musketeers, Immortals, and The Raven. He even got to sit on a Comic-Con panel with Kellan Lutz and Henry Cavill. Talk about a gay dream come true. The problem is it seems like someone wants Evans to go back in the closet.
And adds,
No one can erase this interview with GayDarNation where Evans, then playing a gay pornstar in a play, talks about his love of homosexual smut, “I bought my first [gay porn] film when I was 15 and now I have a good collection and I add to it regularly. I research it almost every night!”
So, it seems fair to say that Evans is gay, or bi, or not heterosexual. Do public figures have the  right to go back in the closet? What do you think?
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