Zachary Quinto addresses his controversial PrEP comments

Zachary Quinto has spoken up about the controversial comments he made last year regarding the growing use of PrEP and Truvada as safeguards against HIV among gay men.

In an interview in August last year, Quinto told OUT Magazine he thought that “Today’s generation sees [HIV] more as something to live with and something to be much less fearful of. And that comes with a sense of, dare I say, laziness.”

“We need to be really vigilant and open about the fact that these drugs are not to be taken to increase our ability to have recreational sex,” he said, describing an “incredible underlying irresponsibility.”

Quinto’s comments were met with immediate backlash from some quarters, and in a self-penned piece on the Huffington Post website addressing the controversy, Quinto denied accusations of ‘internalised homophobia’.

Now, in a new interview with HuffPo’s Michelangelo Signorile, Quinto has spoken further about his initial comments, and the wave of criticism he faced.

Quinto said he knows “tons of people who are taking it and using [PrEP],” and that it’s “a thing to do now,” though it’s “not for me.” He also reiterated his thoughts on HIV prevention:

“Look, I just think we need to be vigilant as a community and a community of gay men. It was not my intention to judge anybody or to rankle anybody, or to put myself in some kind of superior position by any means. I think if people use PrEP as part of a responsible regimen of taking care of themselves and preserving their bodies and their well-being and the well-being of the people they’re having sex with, then more power to them.

“There was this thing that I was ‘slut-shaming.’ Anybody who knows me knows that that is the last thing I would ever do. I just think that we can’t let our guard down.”