Nick Offerman Slams “Homophobic Hate” Aimed At His Episode Of ‘The Last Of Us’ In Indie Spirit Awards Speech

At Sunday’s Independent Spirit Awards, actor Nick Offerman addressed “homophobic hate” aimed over the past year at “Long, Long Time,” the stand-alone episode of HBO’s post-apocalyptic drama The Last of Us that he starred in with Murray Bartlett and that earned Offerman a win today for Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series.

“Thank you so much, Film Independent. I’m astonished to be in this category, which is bananas,” Offerman began while onstage to accept the prize. “Thanks to HBO for having the guts to participate in this storytelling tradition that is truly independent. Stories with guts that when homophobic hate comes my way and says, ‘Why did you have to make it a gay story?’ We say, ‘Because you ask questions like that.'”

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Added an impassioned Offerman: “It’s not a gay story, it’s a love story, you a**hole.”

Offerman also won an Emmy for his turn on The Last of Us as Bill, a survivor of a zombie apocalypse, whose decades-long love story with partner Frank (Bartlett) is chronicled in what has been perhaps the most discussed episode of the show’s first season. In addition to Bartlett, Offerman today bested Spirit Awards contenders in the gender-neutral category that included Billie Eilish (Swarm), Jack Farthing (Rain Dogs), Adina Porter (The Changeling), Lewis Pullman (Lessons in Chemistry), Benny Safdie (The Curse), Luke Tennie (Shrinking), Olivia Washington (I’m a Virgo) and Jessica Williams (Shrinking).

Starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey — the latter, also nominated today — The Last of Us is currently in production in Vancouver on its second season. In the press room at last night’s SAG Awards after winning the award for Male Actor In a Drama Series, Pascal revealed that filming on the second season “is going amazing.”

The actor went on to say that “it’s sort of awe-inspiring the kind of focus and dedication that everyone has going into Season 2.”

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