Kristin Chenoweth: Newsweek's Sean Hayes Piece 'Horrendously Homophobic'

Kristin Chenoweth has rushed to the defense of her 'Promises, Promises' costar Sean Hayes, whom Newsweek criticized for not being able to pull off playing a straight man in the play.

Newsweek's Ramin Setoodeh argued that Hayes' performance in the play was unconvincing because of his sexual orientation and went on to generalize the casting problem to all gay actors. As Deadline New York points out, the article is so contrarian it's hard to believe it's not a stunt.

Setoodeh, who is gay himself, wrote: But frankly, it's weird seeing Hayes play straight. He comes off as wooden and insincere, like he's trying to hide something, which of course he is.

snip...

Here is just part of Chenoweth's lengthy response: This article offends me because I am a human being, a woman and a Christian. For example, there was a time when Jewish actors had to change their names because anti-Semites thought no Jew could convincingly play Gentile. Setoodeh even goes so far as to justify his knee-jerk homophobic reaction to gay actors by accepting and endorsing that "as viewers, we are molded by a society obsessed with dissecting sexuality, starting with the locker room torture in junior high school." Really? We want to maintain and proliferate the same kind of bullying that makes children cry and in some recent cases have even taken their own lives? That's so sad, Newsweek! The examples he provides (what scientists call "selection bias") to prove his "gays can't play straight" hypothesis are sloppy in my opinion. Come on now!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/10/kristin-chenoweth-defends_n_570537.html

Kristin's full repsponse:

http://www.broadway.com/shows/promises-promises/buzz/152350/promises-star-kristin-chenoweth-speaks-out-on-horrendously-homophobic-newsweek-article-defends-sean-hayes/

She epitomizes the beauty of true Christianity.

Basically challenged that a gay person could be believable in a "straight" role, while mocking said gay person.

Newsweek has really, really jumped the shark.