What mistake could have happened to Tom Holland, an actor who is especially appreciated by young viewers, who received a lot of abuse on social networks? The answer is simple and terrifying in the eighth episode of The Crowded Room, where the British star explains gay sex.
If he’s hung up the Spider-Man suit – at least for a while – Tom Holland hasn’t lost his taste for a challenge. In his latest project, a mini-series available on Apple TV+, he portrays Danny Sullivan, a character inspired by Billy Milligan, the criminal known for his 24 personalities.
Critics have been divided on the series, but the role allows the 27-year-old actor to step up his game and thus deliver a much darker and more complex score than usual. Until now, The Crowded Room has been running, unfortunately, quite unnoticed until the release of the eighth episode.
In one sequence, Tom Holland suits up as his female alter ego, played by Sasha Lane, and goes to a gay bar, before engaging in a passionate embrace with a man in a toilet. Another scene shows how she performs oral sex. It was enough to blow up the Internet.
Unlimited homophobia
Reactions, mostly violent and openly homophobic, have accused the star of dishonoring Stan Lee’s iconic superhero. “Tom Holland needs to bring back the Spiderman and Zendaya costume as soon as possible“, we can read on one of the many tweets. Another user, denying any homophobia, said: “SI’m you spider, you have an image to capture, you can’t switch to other movies.”
The social network is full of such messages, thus ignoring the fundamentals of the profession of an actor. Do we really have to limit the actor’s abilities so as not to offend a part of his audience? “At least Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield aren’t wasting their time scamming Tom Holland,” writes the user, who is of course unaware that the other two Spider-Man actors have also played homosexual characters in the past.
These attacks highlight ongoing systemic homophobia. Even today, many Hollywood actors – mostly men – refuse to play gay men for fear of backlash.
Fortunately, the outraged messages are countered by other netizens who don’t shy away from mocking homophobic critics:
After shooting this particularly demanding series, Tom Holland said that he wanted to take a one-year break from his career. In Interview with Entertainment WeeklyHe assures us:Now I’m taking a year off and it’s a result of the difficulty of this series. I can’t wait to see what it brings. I feel that our work was not in vain.”
The Crowded Room is available on Apple TV+.
Source: Allocine
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
