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Kristin Chenoweth is cute, squeaky-voiced and under 5 feet tall -- but if you think you can mess with her friends, think again, pal! A controversial Newsweek.com editorial recently claimed that openly gay actors fail when they attempt to pull off straight roles -- and cited two of Chenoweth's co-workers, Will & Grace's Sean Hayes and Glee's Jonathan Groff as examples. Well, the Tony-winning dynamo rushed to defend her friends in a scathing letter to the editor.
"As a longtime fan of Newsweek and as the actress currently starring opposite the incredibly talented (and sexy!) Sean Hayes in the Broadway revival of Promises, Promises, I was shocked on many levels to see Newsweek publishing Ramin Setoodeh's horrendously homophobic "Straight Jacket," Chenoweth wrote in the Comments section on Friday. "From where I stand -- on stage, with Hayes, every night -- I've observed nothing 'wooden' or 'weird' in his performance, nor have I noticed the seemingly unwieldy presence of a 'pink elephant' in the Broadway Theater. The Drama League, Outer Critics Circle and Tony members must have also missed that large animal when nominating Hayes' performance for its highest honors this year." (Oh, snap!)
The Emmy winner also praised Groff's performance as Lea Michele's Glee love interest and defended actors who have the courage to live and work outside the closet: "I know how much it means to young people struggling with their sexuality to see out & proud actors like Sean Hayes, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris and Cynthia Nixon succeeding in their work without having to keep their sexuality a secret. No one needs to see a bigoted, factually inaccurate article that tells people who deviate from heterosexual norms that they can't be open about who they are and still achieve their dreams."
Personally, we think Groff is totally crush-worthy on Glee, and many of us had no idea he was gay until we read this article. As for Sean Hayes, he mentioned in The Advocate that pre-Will & Grace, he made a good living playing straight men in commercials. (A quick YouTube search proves he's not lying.) In addition to ranting to Newsweek, Chenoweth has been tweeting her letter to high-profile media friends like Ellen Degeneres, Joy Behar, Perez Hilton and Meghan McCain. Don't mess with Chenoweth, Newsweek; she may be small, but she's one tough cookie!
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