Tom Hardy Thinks That Question About His Sexuality Was Really “Inelegant”
During a press conference at TIFF for his movie Legend, a reporter from an LGBT website asked Tom Hardy why he’s been so ambiguous about his sexuality in interviews. The reporter thought the question was relevant, because in Legend, Tom plays a gay dude who’s open about it. Tom shut a trick down. The Daily Beast recently interviewed Tom about Legend and brought up that moment. Tom had a lot to say about it. A LOT. Tom thinks it wasn’t not elegant (copyright-ish: Tami Roman) of that reporter to ask a question like that in front of everyone.
Tom starts by saying that it wasn’t the time or the place to ask him if his fat lips quiver for hard peen.
I think everybody is entitled to the right to privacy. There should be elegant ways to approach any topic, and there’s a time and place to approach anything and have a good, common sense conversation about anything. I do think that there’s a responsibility for people to own the way that they speak publicly. This doesn’t stop us from being human beings; some things are private. I’m under no obligation to share anything to do with my family, my children, my sexuality—that’s nobody’s business but my own. And I don’t see how that can have anything to do with what I do as an actor, and it’s my own business.
Tom couldn’t stopped there and most of us would’ve been like, “Okay, got it,” if he did. He kept going and let us know that a “press conference at TIFF” isn’t the place to ask him about his sexuality and neither is the street.
If you knew me as a friend, then sure, we’d talk about anything. But that was a public forum, and for someone to inelegantly ask a question that seemed designed entirely to provoke a reaction, and start a topic of debate… It’s important destigmatizing sexuality and gender inequality in the workplace, but to put a man on the spot in a room full of people designed purely for a salacious reaction? To be quite frank, it’s rude. If he’d have said that to me in the street, I’d have said the same thing back: “I’m sorry, who the fuck are you?”
Tom kept going. Tom took me up, up and away by using the word “inelegant” and he also let us know that he’s just a bloke, standing in front of a reporter, asking him to let him do his job.
What he had to talk about was actually interesting, but how he did it was so inelegant. And I appreciate that I could probably have more grace as a human being, but I’m just a bloke. I’m just a man. And I’m just a man doing a job. I’m not a role model for anyone, and you’re asking me something about my private life in a room full of people. I don’t want to discuss my private life with you. I don’t know you! Why would I share that with a billion people? Also, if you felt it was so important for people to feel confident to talk about their sexuality, why would you put somebody on the spot in a room full of people and decide that was the time for them to open up about their sexual ambiguity?
Tom kind of already said that, but okay. And he had more to say….
There’s also nothing ambiguous about my sexuality, anyway. I know who I am. But what does that have to do with you? And why am I a part of something now that, however legitimate, I haven’t offered my services for? It’s not about what he and his publication stands for, none of that is offensive, and on the contrary, it’s very admirable, and an important issue. But how I was asked was incredibly inelegant, and I just thought it was disrespectful and counterproductive to what he stands for.
See, this is why I’m not in the business of interviewing famous types. Because after Tom let it all out and made some good points, my only follow-up question would’ve been, “Okay, so are you saying you like dick or no?”
Pic: Wenn.com