Really interesting comment on DaytimeConfidential in relationship to this story...by a poster named "sudsmuffin"

I sure hope this isn't true, but if it is, shame on Chris Engen. I think Sean Penn said it best when he accepted his Academy Award for playing gay activist Harvey Milk in the movie "Milk": (IMOW) We as actors play human beings, not straight or gay. Chris, Sean Penn you are not. If the script calls for a gay kiss, then you as an actor need to put your homophobia aside and get the [!@#$%^&*] job done. It's called being professional. Everybody and their brother or sister has had a gay kiss in Hollywood these days and, hell, their careers are better because of it. Just look at how Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger's (God rest him) careers took off after Brokeback Mountain. Both of them were nominated for academy awards for their performances as gay cowboys. They even did a full on sex scene that was considered graphic (I guess the Ang Lee never saw QaF, lol). Jake S. and Van H. kiss all the time over at ATWT and those boys are probably the most popular couple in daytime. I say sue his pansy ass if he can't get the job done. There are tons of out of work actors who would kiss a horse's behind if it meant getting a paid acting role in these dark days.

Now, I agree with Cat and others here...who knows what the facts are. But all this commentary about how playing gay ruins a career...not a lot of support based on the examples above.

Yup. Now the lawyers get involved.

If he quits, they'll recast the role, and the show will bubble along. But the actor will surely experience some negative consequences. Hopefully he perceives these negative consequences (which could mean not working as an actor for the next few years, and possibly having to pay damages) as less negative than staying on the show, getting a paycheck, and playing what is written.

Of course, Engen weighed the consequences before making this decision. I bet he and Y&R work it out and never gets to a lawsuit. It is not like Y&R is in the financial position to waste money on a lawsuit anyway.

Of course, Engen weighed the consequences before making this decision. I bet he and Y&R work it out and never gets to a lawsuit. It is not like Y&R is in the financial position to waste money on a lawsuit anyway.

Well, poster "Drew" over at DR reminded me of this though...

Look at Brenda Dickson, f*cked with the Bells and never worked again.

The most famous example of walking out mid-contract is Roscoe Born. Now he HAS worked since...but he's had long dry spells...and he had built up a font of goodwill (RH, SB, The City) before he became unprofessional.

Again, so what. Engen is not Rosco Born. Did you not point out that Jacob Young got work after quitting on the Bells? Engen is not tied to Daytime. He can look for work in primetime on the network or on cable. He can leave acting all together and pursue a new career. Acting is not the be all and end all last time I checked.

Mark, you did not have to go pull some post from annoying Daytime Confidential. Why don't you make the argument that it clear that you want to make. I don't know why you are dancing around it. It is obvious that you are outraged that Engen may have quit because he did not want to kiss another guy.

LOL! I had trouble following this post. I'll point out Chris Engen also had the option of quitting and getting on with his life. He likely will settle things with Y&R and go find another job, maybe as an actor or doing something else. It does not feel like a sky is falling event.

Yep.

Again, so what. Engen is not Rosco Born. Did you not point out that Jacob Young got work after quitting on the Bells? Engen is not tied to Daytime. He can look for work in primetime on the network or on cable. He can leave acting all together and pursue a new career. Acting is not the be all and end all last time I checked.

Yes, but I think Brad Bell's organization is much easier to work with than Sony.

Mark, you did not have to go pull some post from annoying Daytime Confidential. Why don't you make the argument that it clear that you want to make. I don't know why you are dancing around it. It is obvious that you are outraged that Engen may have quit because he did not want to kiss another guy.

False, false, false. But I suspect that bias was implicit in some of your responses to me. So, if you'd read my actual words, you'd see I neither expressed nor implied any such thing. Indeed, in response to others upfront, I agreed that I TOTALLY UNDERSTOOD that he might be uncomfortable with this, or find it morally wrong. I get it. I totally get it.

I am disturbed (not outraged) than an actor would quit because he/she didn't like the storyline, a scene, or whatever. If it is true (and I'd prefer to see it confirmed by other sources first), I think that is HUGELY unprofessional on the part of an actor. It is also hugely reckless. That's why I talked above about "hog f*cking" or "licking TGVN's feet". It doesn't MATTER what the story is. Quitting on the basis of story is really stupid.

I mean, let me carry it to the extreme. They could have written Adam as a serial rapist or pedophile. Who WOULDN'T hate such a character? But he still has to play what is on the page if he doesn't want to jeopardize himself.

Isn't that actually part of why Roscoe Born quit? I seem to recall there was a "pedophile" angle to his story.

Again, so what. Engen is not Rosco Born. Did you not point out that Jacob Young got work after quitting on the Bells? Engen is not tied to Daytime. He can look for work in primetime on the network or on cable. He can leave acting all together and pursue a new career. Acting is not the be all and end all last time I checked.

Mark, you did not have to go pull some post from annoying Daytime Confidential. Why don't you make the argument that it clear that you want to make. I don't know why you are dancing around it. It is obvious that you are outraged that Engen may have quit because he did not want to kiss another guy.

Word!

I mean, let me carry it to the extreme. They could have written Adam as a serial rapist or pedophile. Who WOULDN'T hate such a character? But he still has to play what is on the page if he doesn't want to jeopardize himself.

Isn't that actually part of why Roscoe Born quit? I seem to recall there was a "pedophile" angle to his story.

If this is in reference to that character he played on AMC, who cares?! That storyline sucked anyway. And IIRC, they ended up getting an equally talented David Forsyth to carry out the rest of the story.

And his role on AMC came AFTER he played Nick Rivers on The City, just so you know.

Edited May 21, 200916 yr by bellcurve

Nelson on Facebook; just now:

Nah, I want Tom Pelphrey but he's busy on GL. I'm sure Engen will stay. I doubt he can afford to be sued.

....

If this is in reference to that character he played on AMC, who cares?! That storyline sucked anyway. And IIRC, they ended up getting an equally talented David Forsyth to carry out the rest of the story.

And his role on AMC came AFTER he played Nick Rivers on The City, just so you know.

Thanks. I wondered about the timing of that. Born has also managed a steady diet of short term roles in recent years...so he definitely recovered.

FB is where I got wind of this, too.

Nelson on Facebook; just now:

Nah, I want Tom Pelphrey but he's busy on GL. I'm sure Engen will stay. I doubt he can afford to be sued.

....

LOL. Can Y&R/SONY afford to sue someone?

The budgets are shrinking for all the shows. And as much as I adore Chris Engen, he's no Melissa Reeves in terms of starpower. They wanted him to kiss a dude, it's not like they were developing a lucrative spinoff for him.

I love reading Nelson, but I was wondering if there was more to this story.

Perhaps it really is something as mundane as: he pulled a sick day one too many times. Y&R canned him.

This is interesting for me as I was facing the same situation very recently I received a written warning though, as well as my sup and manager speaking to the HR team on my behalf. My point is wouldn't it be a risk firing someone off bat for using sick days. Of course they could have warned an indivdual inw riting already but even then, wouldn't the company open themselves up to lawsuits and such? what if the individual has medical issue? Anyway of course you can' t answer but these are just questions that come up

I don't know something smells fishy either way I am sitting on the edge of my seat hoping if it is true something will be worked out for both character and actor

Nelson on Facebook; just now:

Nah, I want Tom Pelphrey but he's busy on GL. I'm sure Engen will stay. I doubt he can afford to be sued.

....

So, he really didn't "quit" yet. Nelson is an ass for putting this out there when it may or may not be true. He should not speak on matters he has not concrete information about in the first place.

Well if Chris walked off set, he QUIT! Just like Jess Walton said when she walked off set, she had quit. Now the only difference is that Jess's contract was up and she was free to quit, Chris can't. And if the Bells and Sony really wanted to screw him over they could hold him to his contract and keep him from getting another acting job for the remainder of his contract.