“It is extremely hard navigating the industry as an out person... no matter how hard the media loves to try to tell you that, you know, things are different now."
Mey RudeTeen Wolf and Arrow alum Colton Haynes is opening up about how he still struggles with getting roles in Hollywood as an out gay actor, despite all the progress that has been made.
Speaking on the Behind the Velvet Rope with David Yontef podcast, Haynes talked about how his sexuality is still affecting his career in 2022.
“It is extremely hard navigating the industry as an out person, an out LGBTQ+ actor, no matter how hard the media loves to try to tell you that, you know, things are different now,” Haynes said. “They’re not. I mean, you have incredible movies at the box office that aren’t doing or getting the respect that they deserve. You have actors who aren’t being paid the same as everybody else, even though they’ve been a part of projects for 10 years.”
“I played straight characters my whole career. Then I came out of the closet and now the opportunities aren’t there,” he continued. “And so I think that’s something that needs to change.”
“But also I think we just have to start making our own things and we have to start writing our own things and trying to uplift our communities as much as we can and not be the people in the community who try to continue to tear it down as well,” he concluded.
Since Haynes came out in 2016, he’s been cast in a few projects, including Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story: Cult, Dollface, and the upcoming Teen Wolf: The Movie. He also starred in Lil Nas X’s music video for “Industry Baby” as the Head of Security. However, he hasn’t gotten any new large roles like when he was cast in the original Teen Wolf or in Arrow as Roy Harper.
Haynes is also starring in the new Lifetime movie Swindler Seduction, where he plays twin brothers. The movie is “inspired by true events and exposes the world of the romantic con artists, i.e. men who earn their living off women who they fool and steal from.”
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