‘Almost a real man now’: Dan Levy faced homophobia in early career days

Gay actor Dan Levy was told doing DIY made him “almost a real man” backstage at ‘MTV Live’.

The ‘Schitt’s Creek’ star made his onscreen debut on the MTV Canada show in 2006 and he recalled how he felt out of place because of the behind-the-scenes culture, which offered no scope for discussion and saw him subjected to casual homophobia.

Speaking to his former ‘MTV Live’ co-host Jessi Cruickshank on the ‘Phone a Friend’ podcast, Dan said: “It was kind of like, ‘Conform to the culture of the workplace or sit it out.’ But it was never like, ‘Let’s pause what we’re doing to listen to you.’

“I remember walking into work one day and someone asked me what I did on the weekend.

“I said, ‘Well, I installed a dimmer switch in my apartment.’ And that person said, ‘Wow, it’s almost like you’re a real man.’

“And I thought, ‘This isn’t right.’ But at the time, there was no sensitivity, and there was nobody to go to because it was a different time.”

The 39-year-old actor noted at the time there was a worrying trend for bloggers to make it “their job to out people without their consent, like it was some kind of news responsibility” and there weren’t “a ton of out actors that were thriving and drowning in work”, but acknowledged thinks are different now.

He said: “We didn’t have the sensitivity, I think, that we do now, at least around people’s coming out and the fact that it’s an incredibly personal experience.

“I mean, I think we all knew it at the time.

“So, when you do feel like there’s this hunt to out gay people of note in culture, it almost makes you want to hide even more because you don’t want to draw any attention to yourself.”