PASADENA, Calif. — Actor Billy Crystal, who in the 1970’s played the first openly gay character to regularly appear on a network television show, says gay sex scenes are “just pushing it a little too far for my taste.”
Crystal, 66, who played Jodie Dallas on the ABC comedy “Soap” from 1977 to 1981, told an audience at the Television Critics Association winter press tour in Pasadena on Sunday that TV”s depiction of homosexuality has come a long way — perhaps even too far.
“Sometimes I think: ‘Ah that’s too much for me,'” said Crystal.
“Sometimes, it’s just pushing it a little too far for my taste and I’m not going to reveal to you which ones they are. I hope people don’t abuse it and shove it in our face to the point where it feels like an every-day kind of thing,” he added.
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Crystal was promoting his new series, “The Comedians,” which premieres in April on FX.
Update: On Tuesday, Crystal clarified his remarks in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter: “What I meant was that whenever sex or graphic nudity of any kind (gay or straight) is gratuitous to the plot or story it becomes a little too much for my taste.”