Colton Haynes has opened up about the sexual harassment, homophobia and exploitation he and other actors experienced in the 2000s.
In a first person piece for Vulture, the Pushing Daisies star told the story of his relocation to Los Angeles after graduating high school.
When he met with a potential manager in 2007, Colton said he was asked: “Why are you using your hands so much when you talk? And your posture is too…loose. We’re definitely going to have to change your mannerisms. They’re a little too…theater.”
The 33-year-old interpreted this as meaning he was “too gay” and unfortuntately, incidents like this only began to occur more thereafter.
The actor recalled meeting his scene partner before his first “sexy-scene night,” which would see the two “mounting” each other and “thrusting in and out” of each other – as well as kissing.
“So why don’t we get it out of the way and make out now? So we’re both comfortable,” Colton remembered being asked. “I’m straight, just so you know.”
He then said the man grabbed him by the back of his head before kissing him for far longer than expected.
Colton recalled a young actress he knew at the time having to pretend “to be penetrated in front of a class of actors for the sake of impressing her manager.”
When it came to filming his own scene, which he said he found humiliating, things only got worse and were not dissimilar to what he saw.
Colton said he had his eyes closed for the entire thing and was once again told he was appearing “too gay” even though the scene literally involved gay sex.
Under the same management company at the time, Colton said that he was asked to take paperwork to an agent wearing “a cowboy hat and an unbuttoned western shirt.”
He was eventually dropped by the manager in question, which Colton said was because of being “too gay” in their eyes.
This was further confirmed to him when he asked the manager what he should do next, only for them to suggest signing up to a sex worker website.
You can read Colton’s full story by clicking here.
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