Sketchy Things Everyone Just Ignores About Kevin James

Thanks to his role as Doug Heffernan on the popular CBS sitcom The King of Queens, which ran from 1998 to 2007, Kevin James earned a reputation in Hollywood as the "everyman" actor with funny parts in Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Grown Ups, and Zookeeper. He's also well-known as a clean comedian who doesn't use profanity or provocative material in his stand-up routine. 

While that seems like the makings of a squeaky clean celebrity — a rarity in Hollywood — James is no stranger to controversy and has demonstrated some questionable choices throughout his career. Whether we're talking big-time beefs behind-the-scenes, allegations of nepotism, or even the claim that one of his biggest movies might have been a stolen concept, there's a whole other aspect of James' career just under the cheery surface. 

This is the shady side of Kevin James.

In a piece about sexism in Hollywood, Salon noted that Kevin James is among the Hollywood actors who often star in projects that feature a fun-loving husband with a nagging or personality-less wife. He also tends to be paired with remarkably attractive actresses, which has made him the butt of several jokes by comedian Amy Schumer who, according to Variety, often compares his career as a stocky comedian to her own.

In James' defense, sexism in Hollywood has plagued the industry long before he became a star. However, he is the creative force behind Kevin Can Wait, which certainly hasn't helped flip the script. "All the sitcom tropes that feel like they should be a thing of the past are here," writes Jen Chaney for Vulture, "the gratuitous laugh track; the nagging, much hotter wife ... the man-boy husband who can't be bothered to rake leaves, pay attention to his kids' behavioral problems, or eat fewer than four burgers in one sitting; and dialogue that sounds like it came from a spec script written in the early '90s." 

In 2007, Kevin James and Adam Sandler starred in I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, a comedy about two New York City firefighters who pretend to be a married gay couple so James' character, a recent widower, can make sure his kids have access to his life insurance. (Valentine was in this one too, by the way.) The movie ends with a unifying message of respect that was enough for GLAAD to give it a pass, according to Entertainment Weekly. However, the organization did acknowledge what it referred to as the film's "expected stereotypes."

Years later, Uproxx called the movie "blatantly homophobic." According to writer Daniel Fienberg, "It'd be equally silly to deny that a goodly percentage of the 115 preceding minutes — Yes, this movie is obscenely long — are mostly about Kevin James and Adam Sandler's characters making it clear that in order for Chuck and Larry to do some silly thing involving life insurance, they have to lower themselves in the most humiliating way they can imagine, by pretending to be a gay couple." He says the movie projects that "Being gay is gross" and "Having people think you're gay is gross," along with the notion that "If you're gay, you can get ultra-close to hot women."

Though James has never publicly spoken out against the gay community, he apparently doesn't have an issue with making homosexuality a punchline.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop is the Casablanca of inept mall security guard comedies. It seems unlikely that multiple people would come up with an idea about a Segway-riding doofus, yet some clues suggest Kevin James might have stolen the idea from someone else.

According to The Wrap, lawyer and screenwriter Alfred Thomas Catalfo shopped a script called Mall Cop in the early 2000s. Like Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Catalfo's story concerns a sad sack mall security guard who thwarts a robbery. Other similarities: both movies have scenes set in Victoria's Secret and the Rainforest Café. Catalfo said he sent his script to Happy Madison — the production company that wound up making Paul Blart. The latter was made from a script credited to James and Nick Bakay. 

A guy named Duke McBride, who told The Wrap that he worked on Paul Blart, claimed studio execs were "so shocked when they read the scripts side-by-side that that they immediately sent a Sony bigwig" to Catalfo "with an apology and a check to 'work it out' in typical Hollywood fashion." McBride said the film's title was "mysteriously switched to 'Untitled Kevin James Project'" for a while and alleged that James "looked pretty sheepish for a few days, too." McBride's version of events has not been confirmed by Catalfo, James, or the studio, so take it as you will.