Glee Star Darren Criss Says That He’s “Culturally Queer”

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Darren Criss, they could never make me hate you.

In a recent panel at the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo, the actor was asked about what it was like to play Glee heartthrob Blaine Anderson, who formed half of one of the earliest depictions of a teenage gay couple on TV. Criss said that he has “been so culturally queer my whole life,” according to Entertainment Weekly. To be clear, Criss is famously cisgender and heterosexual. But: 1) He ate that role up, and 2) He was born and raised in San Francisco, a historic epicenter of LGBTQ+ culture and activism. Personally, I will continue to stan my unproblematic half-Filipino king for life.

Continuing from his “culturally queer” statement, the actor added, “The things in my life that I have tried to emulate, learn from, and be inspired by are 100% queer as fuck.” Criss went on to say that it has been in queer communities that he’s found people “that I idolize, that I want to learn something from.” He also spoke to his experience of growing up in San Francisco in the ’90s, having “watched men die,” presumably a reference to the AIDS crisis.

“There was an awareness of the gay experience that was not a foreign concept to me,” he said. “So, it was a narrative that I cared deeply about.”

Criss added that when he was hired to portray Anderson, he told himself, “I will do my best to talk about it in the way I believe and a way that I'm passionate about.” As much as the role — and the relationship between Blaine and Kurt — meant to the general public, Criss also said that playing the character “meant a great deal” to him as well.

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“I have a lot of people from all kinds of ages, all spectrums of queerness say, ‘I didn’t grow up with a show like that, and it was a really meaningful thing for me to see,’ and I go, ‘I didn't grow up with a show like that and that would’ve been very meaningful for me too,’” he said. Even though he was a “straight kid,” Criss said that Glee would have been valuable for him because, as “anyone who’s been an underdog” knows, representation can lead to greater understanding.

He concluded by saying that his portrayal of Anderson was “a fucking privilege,” and that he was “so grateful I got to do it.”

We can discourse all day about the ethics of straight actors playing gay roles. But Criss already pledged years ago that he wouldn’t play another gay role, and he’s a shining example of how straight actors should talk about playing gay roles if they do take them.

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Originally Appeared on them.