Well plus, how dare he take one of the few roles that could go to straight actors. They have enough trouble getting cast as it is without cultural appropriation.
I remember when Rupert Everett came out and was told his career was ruined because he'd always be cast as gay men and he said that was fine with him because "we're not, contrary to popular belief, all alike." I thought that was a cool answer, but years later I believe I heard that he now felt his career was ruined.
You are correct on that.
Rupert Everett: being gay stifled my careerHannah Jane Parkinson - Fri 4 Jul 2014The actor Rupert Everett has re-stated his belief that being gay stifled his acting career, telling the Daily Telegraph
"there’s only a certain amount of mileage you can make, as a young pretender, as a leading man, as a homosexual. There just isn’t very far you can go”.The
My Best Friend Wedding's star, promoting his be appearance in Peter Schaffer's
Amadeus in Chichester, said:
"You can only understand the disaster of your own case yourself. You can’t ever expect the world to see everything about yourself in the way that you do – certainly in terms of conducting a career as a homosexual in show business. Not so much now, maybe, because I’m older. It’s not such a threatening problem. But all through my career it was a huge issue."https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jul/04/being-gay-was-a-huge-issue-in-my-career-says-rupert-everett-gay-actors-closet