John Barrowman lost TV job for refusing to lie about sexuality
John Barrowman made a startling revelation while accepting the Human Rights Campaign Visibility Award last weekend during Palm Springs Pride, according to Gay Star News.
Barrowman, who is open about his sexuality, first made it big on British television with his role as Peter Fairchild on CBS soap, Central Park West.
During this time Barrowman had begun dating his now-husband Scott Gill, but the public knew very little about his private life.
As he accepted the Visibility Award, Barrowman recalled how he lost a television job when producers sat him down in a room one day and asked him to “hide” his sexuality.
Speaking to the Human Rights Campaign crowd, Barrowman said: “I’m not going to mention any names but you would all know who he is – gay himself – told me to keep quite.”
“That was the day everything changed,” Barrowman adds. “I did lose my job – they wrote the character out of the show.”
But that didn’t stop Barrowman.
“I was going to have a soapbox, I was going to have a career, I was going to live out, I was going to live proud. I was a gay man who worked in the television industry and I was never going to apologise to anyone for who I was and who I am.”
Barrowman was right with that. While he sadly lost out on the role of Will in Will And Grace because producers felt he was too “straight,” he eventually landed the role of Captain Jack Harkness in BBC’s Doctor Who and Torchwood.
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