"What about giving me one (an Oscar) for playing a straight man?" Ian McKellen

The lack of diversity (i.e. concerning gender and ethnicity/skin tone) in the film industry is currently more openly discussed. Ian McKellen has joined the discussion and recently pointed out that the issue is a wider one (via). In fact, openly gay men and women have won the Oscar before coming out, not while they were out (via).

“No openly gay man has ever won the Oscar; I wonder if that is prejudice or chance.” Ian McKellen

“If you are trying to have a career, as a black or Hispanic actor in a state – California – where white people are now the minority, and you are being judged by an Academy where the vast majority are white, male, middle-aged and old … well, perhaps that is the wrong yardstick.”
Ian McKellen

McKellen expressed sympathy with black actors and actresses who were angry that they were "being ill-treated and underestimated" (via):
“The fact that black people feel underrepresented in studio movies and big movies…well, it’s what women thought for a long time. It’s what gay people like myself still think. And it’s a legitimate complaint and the Oscars has become the focus of those worries. So I sympathize.”
Ian McKellen

His response to Tom Hanks, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Sean Penn having won best actor Oscars for playing gay men:
"How clever, how clever. What about giving me one for playing a straight man?" (via).

“My speech has been in two jackets … ‘I’m proud to be the first openly gay man to win the Oscar.’ I’ve had to put it back in my pocket twice.”
Ian McKellen



photographs via and via