At first, I only read the first half of the headline and I thought “that makes sense.” The headline was “Andrew Garfield: ‘I’m a gay man now because I watch RuPaul’s Drag Race’” I just read it as “Andrew Garfield: I’m a gay man now…” As it turns out, Andrew Garfield is starring in a London production of Angels in America, Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play about the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. At a press conference for the play this week, Garfield talked about how he gets into character by just watching RuPaul’s Drag Race constantly. And Garfield seems to feel like he’s a gay man now because of it?

Andrew Garfield has claimed he’s a gay man right now, just “without the physical act”. The former Spider Man star, who hit headlines last year when he snogged Ryan Reynolds at the Golden Globe Awards, has been busy preparing for his latest role as a gay man. Andrew revealed that he’s been spending his weekends watching RuPaul’s Drag Race to get himself into character – because that’s what all gay men do, right? You know, at the monthly meetings.

“The preparation had begun before (rehearsals began) with a lot of my friends. The play is as much devoted to my friends in the gay community as it is those that passed during the epidemic. My only time off during rehearsals – every Sunday I would have eight friends over and we would just watch Ru. I mean every single series of RuPaul’s Drag Race. I mean every series. This is my life outside of this play. I am a gay man right now just without the physical act – that’s all,” he said during a panel discussion at the National Theatre this week.

The Hollywood star then went on to insist that while he’s not actually gay, he’s not afraid of having an “awakening” later in life when it comes to his sexuality. He continued: “As far as I know, I am not a gay man. Maybe I’ll have an awakening later in my life, which I’m sure will be wonderful and I’ll get to explore that part of the garden, but right now I’m secluded to my area, which is wonderful as well. I adore it, but a big concern was what right do I have to play this wonderful gay role?” he added.

[From Attitude]

My take on this is that he was not trying to be offensive, he was actually trying to be sex-positive and supportive, and it just came out rather awkwardly, and like he was making a massive stereotype about gay men? Like, it takes more than repeated viewings of RuPaul’s Drag Race to “make someone gay.” And many straight men, straight women, bisexual men and women, etc, all enjoy RuPaul. As for Andrew’s “I am a gay man right now just without the physical act” – again, his intention isn’t to offend. I’m pretty sure that he’s just bragging about his Method.

Photos courtesy of WENN.