Noah Galvin Issues Apology Over Hollywood "Glass Closet" Interview

In the Vulture piece, the 'Real O’Neals' star slammed Colton Haynes for his coming out ("That's not doing anything for the little gays but giving them more masturbation material") and took a swipe at 'X-Men' director Bryan Singer.

Noah Galvin is making headlines over a candid new interview with Vulture.

In the piece, which was published on Thursday, the out star of ABC's The Real O'Neals held nothing back when asked by the interviewer about the parallels between his personal and professional life as an openly gay 22-year-old living in Hollywood.

Calling Hollywood one big "glass closet," the TV star spoke frankly about the closeted gay community in Los Angeles and the entertainment industry, slamming Arrow star Colton Haynes over the way he came out, referencing a past allegation against X-Men's Bryan Singer and revealing how he lost out on a role for being "too gay."

Despite initially receiving praise from many fans and celebrities on social media, Galvin issued a statement Thursday afternoon, apologizing for the interview as a whole and specifically about his comments on Singer, Haynes and Eric Stonestreet.

"I sincerely apologize to Bryan Singer for the horrible statement I made," he writes in the statement, which he shared from his Twitter account. "My comments were false and unwarranted. It was irresponsible and stupid of me to make those allegations against Bryan, and I deeply regret doing so." [See Galvin's quote from the interview below.]

He continued, "The entire interview I gave to Vulture has hurt the LGBTQ community and the industry I feel truly fortunate to be a part of."

Later in the day, Vulture deleted Galvin's comments about Singer, saying in an editor's note: "This article originally contained a reference to Bryan Singer. In an interview format, we generally let the subject speak his mind. But this is a contentious issue, and after consideration, we decided to delete the reference."

On the ABC comedy The Real O'Neals, which was recently renewed for a second season, Galvin plays Kenny, a 16-year-old Catholic school student who comes out to his religious family in the pilot episode. The show follows Kenny's coming-of-age story, which is why Galvin said he felt that his own coming out was nearly a non-option.

"Because of the show and the character and this opportunity I'm being given, I couldn't not come out publicly, solely for the people that watch our show," he said in the Vulture interview. "Too often, gay characters on TV are being played by straight people. Some play stereotypes of gay people, some don't. But more often than not, the people playing gay on TV are either not gay, or they are gay and they're not out of the closet."

He added later: "I don't want Kenny to just be the Eric Stonestreet [who plays Cam on Modern Family]. I want him to be a person. I want him to have levels to him. A lot of portrayals of gays on television don't allow for that."

Shortly after Galvin's statement, Haynes posted a reaction to the piece on his Instagram, saying that Galvin has "no idea" about the struggles he has been through. "Since when is a three pg article in Entertainment Weekly not an appropriate way to come out? And since when did he become the judge of what's appropriate?" [sic] He signed the statement "Colton Pussy Haynes," a reference to Galvin's comments about him to Vulture.

A photo posted by Colton Haynes (@coltonlhaynes) on Jun 9, 2016 at 5:30pm PDT

Here are seven of the most explosive excerpts from the Q&A, including Galvin's quotes about Haynes and Singer. You can read the piece in full here.

On losing out on a role for "a straight guy":

"It was down to me and one other boy. One producer who watches our show was like, 'But he's too gay.' It was horrible. It made me feel so shitty. I was like, 'Well, how did I get so far in the process if I was 'too gay'?"

About being typecast:

"When [Hollywood producers and casting directors] see me play this character, they're like, 'Oh, he's really good at playing the funny gay kid. That's what he does. Let's have him do more of that!' … So it was a discussion point, something we talked a lot about. Maybe I did f—ing ruin my career right off the bat by doing this. But it's done some good. And I'm hoping that with time, I'll be given those opportunities to play other characters."

On kids reaching out to him about being gay:

"There are varying levels of severity of these stories. So sometimes it does get really intense. I do have to be very careful about what I respond to and what I don't. I'm learning how to deal with it all … I'm still figuring out my own bullshit. I've got struggles of my own. I don't have time to be your f—ing soothsayer."

On Arrow star Haynes ("But you know he talked about coming out. He didn’t actually say he was gay," says the interviewer):

"That's not coming out. That's f—ing pussy bullshit. That's like, enough people assume that I sleep with men, so I'm just going to slightly confirm the fact that I've sucked a dick or two. That's not doing anything for the little gays but giving them more masturbation material."

On Stonestreet's Modern Family character:

"I think as wonderful of an actor as Eric Stonestreet is — I've never met him, I assume he's a wonderful guy — he's playing a caricature of a caricature of a stereotype of stereotype on Modern Family. And he's a straight man in real life. And as hilarious as that character is, there's a lack of authenticity. I think people — especially young gay kids — they can laugh at it, and they can see it as a source of comedy, but like, nothing more than that."

About the large "closeted element of L.A.":

"There was a kid who guested on our show. He was flirting with me so blatantly, to the point where he asked me out a few times. At one point I turned to him and was like, 'Are you gay?' And he was like, 'Well … I don't know. I'm more like, go with the flow.' And I was like, 'Shut the f— up. Get out of my face with your wishy-washy bullshit answer. You're a f—ing faggot. Like, I know you are. You know you are. Stop beating around the bush. Just go make out with me in my dressing room.' And I ran into that more often than not. But also you meet a lot of straight men out in L.A. that are … I question a lot of people's sexual orientation in L.A. The actual gay-gay community is in WeHo, and it's a club scene. I have no interest in that whatsoever."

About X-Men franchise director Singer when asked if there is a gay community within the entertainment industry [In 2014, Singer was accused of sexually abusing a 17-year-old boy in the 1990s. The charges were later dropped]:

"Yeah. Bryan Singer likes to invite little boys over to his pool and diddle them in the f—ing dark of night. (Laughs.) I want nothing to do with that. I think there are enough boys in L.A. that are questionably homosexual who are willing to do things with the right person who can get them in the door. In New York there is a healthy gay community, and that doesn't exist in L.A."

June 9, 4:40 p.m. PT: Updated with Galvin's statement.

June 9, 5:43 p.m. PT: Updated with Haynes' Instagram post.

June 10, 10:45 a.m. PT: Updated with Vulture's editor's note.