“Heroes” actor Thomas Dekker publicly opened up about his sexuality on Twitter Thursday, but suggested he was inspired to do so after a “prominent gay man” outed him.
The 32-year-old, who had memorable turns in “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” and the 2010 remake of “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” described himself as a “man who proudly loves other men” in a short essay he included with his tweet. He also revealed that he’d married his husband in April.
The post, however, is garnering a great deal of attention because of Dekker’s pointed reference to a “prominent gay” who he claims “used an awards acceptance speech to ‘out’” him. “While he did not mention me by name, the explicit details of his reference made it easy for the public and media to connect the dots,” he wrote.
Dekker didn’t name the man who he said outed him. However, screenwriter and producer Bryan Fuller made headlines last week when he alluded to a “Heroes” actor who wasn’t allowed to be gay on the show in a July 6 speech at the Outfest LGBT Film Festival in Los Angeles.
“I had a brief stint on ‘Heroes’ where the gay character was ‘hetwashed’ after the actor’s management threatened to pull him from the show if he — the character, not the actor — were gay,” Fuller, who is openly gay, said in the speech, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “The character became straight and the actor came out as gay.”
Watch Fuller’s speech below, then scroll down to keep reading.
Fuller appeared to be doubling down on comments he’d made in 2007, when he said Dekker’s “Heroes” character, Zach, had been written as gay, but was ultimately portrayed as straight per request of the actor’s team. “The show’s been such a positive experience for so many people,” he said, “we didn’t want to get hung up on the fact that one actor’s management felt that it was a career killer for him to play a homosexual which, as a gay man, I found incredibly insulting.”
At the time, Dekker responded to Fuller’s remarks in a Myspace bulletin, noting that he and his management had never had “any kind of problem” with gay roles. “I would like it to be known by everyone, that I have played a gay character three times before in my career, one when I was 12 (which is on YouTube), one when I was 15, and another when I was 17,” he wrote at the time, according to Gawker.
In his July 13 tweet, Dekker refuted parts of Fuller’s Outfest claim, noting that he hadn’t, in fact, come out prior to the July 13 tweet. There were no hard feelings, he wrote, because the alleged outing offered him a “prime opportunity” to discuss his sexuality publicly.
Noting that “sexuality and who you love in a deeply personal and complicated thing,” he wrote, “I agree with many who believe it is an important responsibility for LGBTQ persons with a platform to come out. It has the power to change minds, challenge beliefs and make others feel understood and supported.”
It’s wonderful to see you living your truth, Thomas!
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