'White Lotus' and 'You' actor Lukas Gage says an agent dropped him for refusing to publicly label his sexuality: 'Let me do it when I’m ready'

Lukas Gage will speak about his sexuality when he's ready.

The Euphoria star, 27, says he feels the pressure "all the time" to publicly label his sexual identity. In fact, he says he's even faced professional consequences due to his refusal.

In a new interview with the New York Times, the former White Lotus actor spoke about how he previously lost his agent because he wouldn't label himself.

"An agent that dropped me was like, 'Stop dyeing your hair, stop wearing weird clothes and pick a lane: gay, bi or straight. It’s too confusing.' I understand representation and voices that need to be heard, but I don’t want to do anything on anyone’s accord but my own," said Gage. "Let me do it when I’m ready. And it’s acting. I feel like everyone should get the opportunity to play whatever they want."

Gage also spoke about how some people took his appearance in hairstylist Chris Appleton's vacation photos as a declaration of their relationship. While he's comfortable if people interpret the post that way, Gage said he doesn't feel the need to comment on it.

"If they want to think that, they can," said Gage, who was photographed spending time with Appleton in the Dominican Republic. "I’m a pretty open book about most things in my life, but I have a problem with the culture of everyone needing to know everybody’s business and nothing can be sacred. It’s a weird line that I’m still trying to figure out."

Last year, Gage quickly spoke out when someone on Twitter criticized the fact that he takes on so many queer roles.

“If Hollywood can stop hiring non LGBTQIA+ actors like @lukasgage to play LGBTQIA+ characters, that would be great,” the Twitter user wrote. “He has played 4 so far. 1 was enough.”

In response to the tweet, Gage wrote, "u don't know my alphabet."

While Gage prefers to stay mum on his personal life, he's an advocate for showing the reality of sexual relationships onscreen. He stars as a sex worker in his new independent film Down Low opposite Zachary Quinto, who plays a repressed divorcé. Gage also previously starred in You alongside show lead Penn Badgley. While Badgley recently shared that he no longer wants to participate in intimate scenes, Gage has said he thinks it would be a mistake to not include sex in the program.

"If we’re showing this character who has a hidden kink and he’s struggling with being honest, or a guy who is having his first queer experience with his boss, I feel like it’s a disservice to not see that," he said, citing his scenes in You and White Lotus. "But I totally respect Penn and his views. Maybe because I’m not married with kids, I’m like, I’ve got to give it away while I can."

Gage went on to say that he received significant "backlash in my DMs" for defending sex scenes, which he calls "a little weird."

"And that pisses me off because I don’t want to yuck anyone’s yum. But a lot of people can have a hard time separating the actor from the character, and then, suddenly, people are coming up to me at Starbucks asking if the scene was real," he said. "People forget it’s make-believe."