Lukas Gage will speak about his sexuality when he is ready.
The Euphoria star, 27, says he feels pressure “all the time” to publicly label his sexual identity. In fact, he says he even faced professional repercussions because of his refusal.
In a new interview with the New York Timesthe former white lotus actor shared how he previously lost his agent because he didn’t want to label himself.
“An agent who dropped me said, ‘Stop dyeing your hair, stop wearing weird clothes and choose a job: 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 but my own consent,” Gage said. “Let me do it when I’m ready. And it’s acting. I think everyone should have the chance to play what they want.”
Gage also spoke about how some people saw his appearance in hairstylist Chris Appleton’s vacation photos as a statement of their relationship. While he’s comfortable with people interpreting 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 having to know everyone’s business and nothing can be sacred. It’s a weird rule that I’m still trying to figure out.”
Last year, Gage was quick to speak out when someone on Twitter criticized him for taking on so many odd roles.
“If Hollywood could stop hiring non-LGBTQIA+ actors like @lukasgage to play LGBTQIA+ characters, that would be awesome,” the Twitter user said. wrote. “He has played 4 so far. 1 was enough.”
In response to the tweet, Gage wrote, “You don’t know my alphabet.”
While Gage prefers to keep quiet about his personal life, he is a proponent of showing the realities of sexual relationships on screen. He stars as a sex worker in his new independent film Down low opposite Zachary Quinto, who plays a repressed role parting. Gage also played in before you alongside show leader 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 not to include sex in the program.
“If we show this character who has a hidden kink and struggles to be honest, or a guy who has his first queer experience with his boss, I feel like it’s a disservice not to see that,” he said, citing his scenes in it you And white Lotus. “But I totally respect Penn and his views. Maybe because I’m not married and don’t have kids, I’m like, I have to give it away while I can.”
Gage went on to say he got significant “backlash in my DMs” for defending sex scenes, which he calls “kind of weird.”
“And that annoys me, because I don’t want to laugh at anyone’s yum. But a lot of people can find it hard to separate the actor from the character, and then, all of a sudden, people come up to me at Starbucks asking if the scene was real, ” he said. “People forget it’s fake.”
