Actors Who Refuse To Share A Same-Sex Kiss On-Screen

This article contains allegations of and references to homophobia.

We all remember the cringeworthy "Extras" episode wherein Ricky Gervais' hapless aspiring thespian, Andy Millman, refuses to kiss another man in Ian McKellen's play. In an inexplicable effort to appease the macho high school pals he hadn't seen in decades, Millman sabotaged an exasperated McKellen's play, and, in turn, his own career by rebuffing his male co-star onstage. The plot may have seemed like an absurd work of fiction, but there are many actors IRL who have gone to Millman-esque heights to prevent themselves from having to kiss someone of the same sex.

As the notion of straight actors portraying LGBT+ characters becomes increasingly antiquated, we're reminded of an era in which playing gay whilst straight was, rather inconceivably, deemed brave. There once was a time when kissing a person of the same sex on screen was a huge issue for many actors — and for men in particular. As the Los Angeles Times pointed out back in 2002, "American audiences by now have become used to gay male humor and gay domestic life, whether it's depicted in movies ('The Birdcage') or on network television ('Will & Grace'). But physically expressing gay love is something else again." 

Accordingly, the perceived taboos around kissing someone of the same sex led numerous stars to demand that scripts be rewritten, or, in some instances, to quit the project entirely — and many of them likely thought they could simply kiss off criticism for their actions. Here's the lowdown on actors who refuse to share a same-sex kiss on-screen.

It's been a hot minute since Ashlee Simpson generated headlines. But back in the '00s, she was an undeniable pop idol, and subsequently sought to become the toast of Tinseltown. As she embarked on her acting career following her success as a singer — infamous "SNL" performance, aside – Simpson was cautious about the roles she took on. Accordingly, a same-sex kiss was out of the question for the up-and-coming star.

In 2004, Simpson's career was being managed by her father, Joe, who made it resoundingly clear that he did not want his daughter playing gay roles. So, when Simpson was cast in the film "Wannabe" (later renamed "Undiscovered"), as a gay woman, Joe swiftly had the character rewritten. "I changed it. It doesn't work for her to be gay the first thing out," Joe told the New York Post (via Digital Spy). "... She's going to be a huge movie star. She's like Meg Ryan or Cameron Diaz, with probably more depth. When we're done, she'll play it all." Unfortunately, that whirlwind movie career never quite manifested for the aspiring thesp.

Simpson later addressed her initial reluctance to take on LGBT+ roles in an interview with Brandon Voss for HX magazine. "It was a little too obvious," she said of her "Undiscovered" character's scrapped sexuality, adding that she wasn't averse to adopting such parts in the future. To date, Simpson has not played an LGBT+ character or had a same-sex kiss onscreen.

Although its gay romance may appear muted and straight-washed now, "Brokeback Mountain" was a landmark LGBT+ film when it premiered in 2005. While it's difficult to imagine anyone other than Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger as the lovestruck ranchers, it was none other than Mark Wahlberg who was originally considered for the flick.

However, in an interview with WENN (via Advocate), Wahlberg made it clear that he had no intention of ever kissing another man on screen, uttering some rather contentious remarks in the process. "I met with Ang Lee on that movie, I read 15 pages of the script and got a little creeped out," he recalled. "It was very graphic, descriptive ... I told Ang Lee, I like you, you're a talented guy, if you want to talk about it more. Thankfully, he didn't. I didn't rush to see Brokeback, it's just not my deal." Speaking with The National Enquirer, a source close to Wahlberg claimed that his Catholic priest advised him against taking the role. "He passed because of the gay subject matter, which clashes with Catholic doctrine," the insider suggested

Thankfully, the film's Oscar-nominated leads had no issue with expressing same-sex love in the film. As Gyllenhall told Another Man magazine, Ledger even refused to perform a comedy bit at the 2007 Oscars about the film's gay romance. "Heath said, 'It's not a joke to me — I don't want to make any jokes about it,'" the actor recalled.

"Dog Day Afternoon" remains one of Al Pacino's most iconic films. As a fictionalized version of bank robber John Wojtowicz, renamed Sonny Wortzik in the film, Pacino puts all his gusto into the role of a man desperate to help his transgender lover (Chris Sarandon) fund her gender-affirming surgery. Although the film was groundbreaking for its time, it features a distinct lack of intimacy between Pacino and Sarandon. But that wasn't always the case.

Per IGN, the script initially called for a kiss between the two actors at the end of the film, but Pacino refused. In the "Dog Day Afternoon" DVD commentary (via Cinematic Visions), the A-lister discussed his unease with the original script. "When a relationship comes to an end, how often does sex come into it?" he argued. The actor added that he believed the audience didn't need to see homosexual gestures to tell the story (despite the LGBT+ nature of the narrative). Subsequently, Pacino reasoned that he sought to depict "the human conflict and the human cry for connection, and a kiss seemed to be exploitative." Moreover, as The National Review points out, in real life Wojtowicz kissed a male lover during the bank robbery, something that the filmmakers also omitted.

Pacino may have declined to kiss a man romantically on screen, but he was happy to give his "Dog Day Afternoon" co-star John Cazale the kiss of death in "The Godfather Part II."

Michael Jai White is celebrated as a pioneer, having portrayed the first ever Black superhero in a mainstream movie with 1997's "Spawn." But there are some roles that are off limits for White.

In an interview with VladTV, he stated that he would never kiss another man for a film. White discussed his role as the eponymous heavyweight champion in the 1995 biopic "Tyson," which originally called for him to kiss co-star Clark Gregg, who played Tyson's trainer Kevin Rooney (the boxer apparently used to kiss Rooney after bouts). But White refused to lock lips with his co-star. "I remember when that scene came up I was like, here we go," he recalled. "I'm not doing that, bro ... Here's the biggest role of my life. We're gonna go head to head with [the] 'I gotta kiss a man' thing ... Deep inside me I just didn't want to do that." He agreed to a hug instead.

However, the actor insisted that he was not homophobic and would turn down a kiss with a woman too. "If somebody wants to call me a limited actor, so be it... I'm just being true to who I am," he added. "Guess what? I don't want to kiss women in movies either ... I don't like the image of my kids seeing me kiss another woman other than their mother." He claimed that he has scripts edited so that he doesn't have to kiss anyone, male or female.

Once ridiculed for being a clean-cut rapper, Will Smith instead found himself generating headlines for all the wrong reasons when his palm met Chris Rock's cheek at the 2022 Oscars. Although the brutal slap seemed like an anomaly in the star's otherwise pristine reputation, he'd actually caused controversy decades earlier for another act of apparent machismo.

In 1993, Smith starred in "Six Degrees of Separation." Based on the life of con artist David Hampton, who claimed to be the son of Sidney Poitier, the big screen adaptation of John Guare's titular play called for a same-sex kiss. Per Entertainment Weekly, the scene required Smith to smooch "The Breakfast Club" alum Anthony Michael Hall, but the rapper-turned-actor flat out refused. The filmmakers subsequently had no choice but to use a body double for the film. As his "Six Degrees of Separation" co-star, Ian McKellen, told Time Out, "He was a charmer and a good actor. But he did one silly thing: he refused to kiss another boy on-screen, even though it was there in the script."

Smith later regretted turning down the kissing scene, telling Entertainment Weekly that he was young and immature. "I was thinking, 'How are my friends in Philly going to think about this?'" he said. "I wasn't emotionally stable enough to artistically commit to that aspect of the film ... This was a valuable lesson for me. Either you do it or you don't."

In 2015, Kevin Hart opened up about his decision to turn down a role in "Tropic Thunder" as a gay rapper — the character ultimately went to Brandon T. Jackson. Speaking with the Breakfast Club (via TMZ), the comedian admitted that he would never play a gay character or perform in scenes of same-sex intimacy. Noting that the original script called for gay sex scenes, he said, "The dude, he was doing a lot of stuff, in the draft that I read ... It was real flagrant. It was a lot of stuff. And I was like, 'I can't do this.'"

While Hart said he regretted not taking on the role, he was forthcoming when discussing why he won't play gay characters. "Not because I have any ill-will or disrespect ... I feel like I can't do that because I don't think I'm going to dive into that role 100%, because of the insecurities about myself," he explained.

The Guardian heavily criticized Hart for the remarks, arguing that they contribute to the actor's long history of perceived homophobia. For instance, he once told a joke about fearing his son being gay and was famously fired as Oscars host in 2018 for past tweets he had written about the gay community, for which he failed to apologize. In an appearance on "The Shop" (via ET Canada) Hart attempted to make amends for these past controversies, explaining that he had grown as a human being.