No Gay Guys In "Heroes"

Despite our own reports that Zach, the indestructible cheerleader’s best pal on NBC’s Heroes, would be gay (we talked to Heroes creator and exec producer Tim Kring and out supervising producer-writer Bryan Fuller for a cover story in August), it seems that either actor hysteria or studio phobia has gotten the better of good writing and character development. Earlier this year Kring told Out that Zach would be gay—but he admitted he hadn’t yet told actor Thomas Dekker, who plays Zach. Kring and Fuller also told us that studio execs are still afraid of characters perceived to be gay, but nevertheless Kring said he was undaunted by NBC’s pressure to make all the characters straight. Months later we heard rumors that either Dekker or his management was not happy about the idea of Dekker playing a gay character and was protesting. Despite Zach’s taunting on the show by bitchy cheerleaders for being a “gay boy,” an AfterElton.com article says that, “According to the NBC publicity department and [Dekker’s management], the character of Zach is absolutely, positively straight.” Check out the article for all the “He’s gay. Oops, now he’s not” details and analysis. Saving the world does not, apparently, involve conquering homophobia.

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