Will Smith?

[lindsaywhit]

ENTERTAINMENT LAWYER 03/30 **14**
A Brief Foray - A Johnny$ Blind: Setting: High School classrooms across America, Fall 1990 - Spring of 1991: Channel One News was a paid advertising program marketed at public schools. In exchange for TVs in every classrooms, schools would air Channel One's 20 minute news program every morning, which also featured heavy advertisements.

High school students were very surprised when the daily "news" reported a story about a then A-list rapper and aspiring TV actor who announced he was gay. The report contained a short video of the rapper/actor stating he was gay to an interviewer. Given the culture at the time, this admission was extremely dangerous for the actor/rapper's career. National and local news outlets, both print and broadcast, also ran stories on this admission.

Within 48 hours, the rapper/actor reversed course. He stated he had misunderstood the question. The story soon died down, and he grew in popularity. Any evidence of his brief time out of the closet is hard to find. You won't find the news articles on the internet, nor the interview on YouTube. This may be due to his alleged affiliation with the cult which can make things (and people) disappear.

Will Smith/Scientology(In 1991 Will Smith Was Caught Making Fun of a Bald Celebrity)) (Alexis Arquette calls out Will and Jada Pinkett Smith as ‘gay hypocrites' in detailed Facebook post alleging Will's first wife left him 'after walking in on him and another man')

From AGC Blinds - the stuff in red are the presumed guesses.

[MsDark]

Here's how I know he might be at least a little bit gay: I remember the fucking huuuuge deal he made about a scene in the original script for Six Degrees of Separation where his character (a young street kid con artist who pretends to be illegitimate son of Sidney Poitier and worms his way into a bunch of Park Avenue social circles) was supposed to kiss the character played by Anthony Michael Hall.

He absolutely refused to do it under any circumstances and they had to do some goofy shit where they shot him from the back and he moved in for a kiss that you really never saw happen cause the camera cut away but there was a stupid "smack" sound to try and make it look like there was a kiss, just that it happened off camera. It was really odd and unrealistic and took away from the scene and the film. He was great in this role otherwise, but they should have told him to grow the fuck up, this scene is not coming out, and if you can't do it, we'll go with someone who can.

I mean, if he's that bothered you'd think he would just not want to play a gay character period. This movie is "old" by now but I remember thinking it was weirdly uptight of him even then. Now? Pfft. You might as well just announce you like dick if you're an actor and going to protest something like a tiny little peck on the lips with another dude.

Anyone who is secure with their own sexuality should not be bothered by this at all.

[krisnine]

I’ll always remember that story. I thought he was such an asshole. You’re an actor, act ffs. 

[lindsaywhit]

Hey Krisnine! Good to see you!

[trixie]

From what I've read, Will said Denzel Washington advised him not to do the kiss.

Per imdb:

Will Smith refused to kiss Anthony Michael Hall just before their kissing scene, so a camera trick was used showing only the backs of their heads. In an interview, Smith stated that Denzel Washington advised him not to kiss a man on-screen, for it would harm his career. Smith stated that he regretted not going through with it, saying, "it was very immature on my part."

[czb]

i can see why people would have thought that in the 90s. some thought that harry hamlin was going to kill his career when he played a gay man in a romance. it plays differently in 2022. things change.