Actor Lukas Gage is opening up about feeling pressured to come out as gay and expressing sympathy for Kit Connor who he says faced a similar “witch hunt.”

The Smile 2 star appears on the cover of the latest issue of Attitude, and in the accompanying profile Gage recalls dealing with the public perception that he was a straight actor taking on queer roles before he came out publicly in 2023.

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Kit Connor opens up about being pressured by fans to come out
“I wasn’t angry. I was just slightly disappointed by this reaction.”

“When I did [come out], my friends and family knew I wanted to keep [it] sacred for myself. I felt like I didn’t need to prove anything to anyone,” he told the magazine. “But I was also dealing with people coming for me, being like, ‘Why is he stealing a gay role? He’s just a straight guy, how dare he, blah blah blah.’”

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Gage, who first gained attention for his role — and an infamous queer sex scene opposite out Emmy winner Murray Bartlett — in the first season of HBO’s The White Lotus, said he’s of two minds when it comes to the issue of casting straight performers in queer roles.

“It’s two-fold. I’m in the camp where there’s of course certain scenarios. It’s an injustice to not cast with diversity and inclusion, to tell the most authentic story,” he said. “In other less specific cases, it’s important to remember it is acting, and we should be free to play as many different kinds of roles as possible.”

Gage called for “grace and generosity,” implying that audiences shouldn’t be so quick to criticize actor who may not be out publicly for playing gay characters.

“I don’t like it when people do a witch hunt for people for doing it. Trying to take them down,” he said.

“There’s a gray area with sexuality,” Gage continued. “Nuances. To be demanding receipts… I remember, it was the same time people were coming for me, they were coming for Kit [Connor].”

Connor, who plays bisexual teen Nick in Netflix’s Heartstopper, famously resisted labeling his sexuality when asked about it in early interviews about the series, leading to accusations of “queerbaiting” from fans. The constant criticism lead the young actor to briefly quit Twitter (now known as X) in 2022, before returning to the platform to publicly acknowledge that, like his character, he is bisexual.

“Congrats for forcing an 18 year old to out himself,” Connor wrote in an October 2022 post. “I think some of you missed the point of the show.”

“Feeling bullied into coming out at 18 years old? That area where public and private intersect is so confusing to me,” Gage told Attitude, referencing Connor’s post.

“I want to have visibility, to be a role model. I want little kids to see me and think, ‘He’s doing it — I could do it too,’” Gage added. “But it’s also the thing Tina Fey said, ‘Authenticity is expensive.’ Things that are private and sacred to you are valuable. You don’t want it all out there.”

While Gage admitted he hasn’t met Connor, he said he “felt for” the Heartstopper star.

“With my experience in that situation, I felt like I reached a point where it just became like… It was a big f**k you to everybody,” Gage said. “I was like, ‘All right. I’m going to be completely out there. Be in-your-face annoying about it.’”

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