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Andrew Garfield, fresh off an Oscar nomination for Hacksaw Ridge, recently made the move to the stage opposite Nathan Lane in the London revival of Tony Kushner‘s famed play Angels in America, and until this week, there seemed to be nothing but positive buzz around his performance. As Prior Walter, a gay man battling AIDS in the midst of the 1980s crisis, Garfield has received rave reviews, but drew ire on Monday after a he made some seemingly ignorant comments during a post-show talkback.
“I am a gay man right now, just without the physical act,” Garfield said after being asked about how he had immersed himself in the role. According to the Gay Times, Garfield admitted that watching RuPaul‘s Drag Race had helped him find his character: “My only time off during rehearsals – every Sunday I would have eight friends over and we would just watch Ru. This is my life outside of this play.”
Prior to discussing just how “gay” his life had become while playing Prior, he began the talk with a bit of a disclaimer:
As far as I know, I am not a gay man. Maybe I’ll have an awakening later in my life, which I’m sure will be wonderful and I’ll get to explore that part of the garden, but right now I’m secluded to my area, which is wonderful as well. I adore it, but a big concern was what right do I have to play this wonderful gay role?
Garfield, 33, who previously had a high-profile relationship with actress Emma Stone, spent much of the Q&A praising the LGBTQ community and claimed he’d devoted the play to his “friends in the gay community” and “those that passed during the epidemic”, but the damage had seemingly been done with his earlier comments.
Many Twitter users took to their account pages to air grievances about the implications of Garfield’s statements, referring to him as a “straight tourist” and urging him to educate himself:
Others took the opportunity to defend Garfield, claiming he’d made a “silly” error with good intentions at heart:
And, as usual, it wouldn’t be a Twitterstorm without a few jokes in the mix:
Garfield has yet to address the controversy surrounding his comments. The 7 1/2-hour Angels in America runs through August and will be broadcast live in movie theaters across the country on July 20.
