Y&R: Shocking Role Recast

[KLN]

In my personal life, it wouldn't happen. However, if I was being paid thousands of dollars to do it as part of my job, I'd have my tongue so far down her throat she'd be sh!tting taste buds for weeks.

[Vee]

Exactly. In fact, where's my check, ZendallFan? I'll even kiss you! Let's go, right now. No problem. You're about to 'experience my limitation.'

[Cashton]

How many of us have seen someone react hysterically to the very sight of an insect or a rodent? The very sight of it induces a blind hysteria that causes them to jump on a table and scream. This is a phobic reaction. Engen's reaction to a gay kiss is the same exact thing. Yes, it's understandable. But the fault usually lies with the person's reaction. What bothers me is that people seem to think this irrational behavior should be coddled, placated and accepted. This is homophobia folks.

[MarkH]

Engen claims: "I am sure that more of my colleagues would speak on my behalf if they too weren’t afraid of the possible consequences, and I don’t blame them for that."

[Vee]

It should be coddled because apparently, if he didn't flee the scene screaming "GOD HATES FAGS!" it's not really homophobia. Also, insert your bias here, such as: "Y&R is not a good show, Adam's character has been ruined, and Chris was just acting to protect his artistic integrity." Whether or not the show is good, whether or not Adam's character has been ruined, these things are not the point. The point is, he was asked to kiss a man, and his 'experience of limitation' told him he could not do it. That is homophobia, no matter how soft-spoken, no matter how eloquent.

Easy for him to say.

[MarkH]

Cashton...I agree with every word you write here EXCEPT...

... how do we know the KISS is why Engen quit? Even it if is the KISS, how do we know that is not the culmination of a bunch of stuff, Frank Beaty-like, that was driving him nuts?

[Vee]

Mark, you have four paragraphs of equivocation and rambling here and not once is he willing to address the kiss outright. All he does talk about is his kid having to see him do "stuff," and his own experience of intolerance as some kind of benign personality trait that makes us all individuals - hooray for intolerance! Unless he decides to release another manifesto after the material begins to air, I think it's safe to read between the lines here. He is championing his choice not to be involved in a storyline with Rafe. That is not a tragic case like Frank Beaty, who came in, did his job, and was exploited.

[All My Shadows]

I deserve better than to be forced to do something that I don’t feel is right on many levels, and that should have nothing to do with the choices that other people make.

We don't know what the kiss is an expression of. If Adam kisses Rafe with only the intentions of toying with his feelings and stringing him along just so that he (Rafe) can be a pawn in his (Adam's) whacktastic schemes, then I personally don't see that as an "expression of sexuality." It's an expression of scheming, conniving, using, and abusing.

IMO, it fits perfectly into the reports the he "doesn't like the dark direction" that the character of Adam has been going in. After reading his statement a few times, I don't believe he's homophobic anymore than I did before, but I also don't feel like he addressed the situation enough. Hopefully Ma says something about it soon, and even if she doesn't, I'm anxious to see where the storyline goes.

[Vee]

"Choices" like homosexuality? I love it when they call it a choice. It's still homophobia. And no, Chris, you don't deserve better when you signed a contract like everyone else.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know all that. But on the surface, it's still just a kiss. He didn't rape Summer, he didn't roofie Victor and steal his sperm, he didn't beat Neil to death with a liquor bottle and eat his eyes, he didn't bomb anyone. It's just kissing a dude. That's a bridge too far for him - rape, murder, adultery are all fine.

[KLN]

I've said all along that I don't know whether Chris is a homophobe of not. Do I suspect it's very possible? Yes -- but it's not a certainty.

What's interesting to me is how so many people are so quick to say that Chris isn't a homophobe. The fact of that matter is that we've all heard the same information (as far as I know), so for anyone to declare with complete certainty that Engen's on the up and up is interesting to me. Why is that happening? Is it because people see some of themselves and their own beliefs/feelings in Engen, and they're afraid that if Engen's a homophobe, it must mean they're one too? Is the reality of that possibility too tough a pill to swallow? By the way, I'm not talking about any posters here. I'm talking more about some of the vicious people at SoapCentral, LoL. That place has gotten ca-raaayyyyyzeee!

In my personal opinion, we haven't been given enough confirmation of anything to stand completely on one side of the road or the other re: Engen's "fear" of homosexuality, but I will say that if the reports are true, it certainly doesn't paint a pretty picture of him. There's plenty of reason to suspect the worst.

[Cashton]

Mark - Engen's transition from being labeled a homophobe to his defense of intolerance belies it was about the kiss. He seems to be very self-concious of how he's perceived:

Playing a dark character definitely bothered him, but he's been dark for a while. The kiss is the only beat he's refused to play so far in the s/l. So yeah, it was the kiss.

[MarkH]

Even though I don't know what, actually, his bridge too far was...I may literally need to switch undergarments if you keep writing stuff like this. My aching abdominal muscles....

[KLN]

For him, I think the difference is that all those other things can be simulated. They can be faked. A kiss, on the other hand... not so much. Even so, nobody twisted his arm to sign a contract, so he has no reason to piss and moan, IMO.

[MarkH]

Well, if that's the case...

Damn, we all have to get past this boy . I swear, I think his cuteness has us obsessing how this could have gone so wrong... Well, speaking for myself.

But, of course, it is EASY to simulate a kiss.

[Bright Eyes]

Meh, I still find him sexy. And really isn't that all that really matters?