Rebel Wilson Dismisses Idea Straight Actors Can’t Play Gay Roles as ‘Total Nonsense’

In an interview with the BBC Radio 4 show “Desert Island Discs,” actress Rebel Wilson admitted she thinks the idea that “only straight actors can play straight roles and gay actors can play gay roles” is “total nonsense.”

“I think you should be able to play any role that you want,” the queer actress said. “But I always think in comedy, your job is to always kind of flirt with that line of what’s acceptable. Sometimes you do step over it, but at the end of the day you are trying to entertain people.”

Always choosing to be comedically safe, she added, isn’t a recipe for entertainment.

Earlier in the segment, Wilson said that she doesn’t think there are different comedic standards for women and men, but that “It’s more this thing about if you are something then now you’re allowed to joke about it. So say if you are overweight, you can say jokes — but if you’re not… that’s kind of what’s currently happening.”

Wilson came out in 2022. In an Instagram post, she shared a photo of herself and girlfriend Ramona Argruma and wrote, “I thought I was searching for a Disney Prince… but maybe what I really needed all this time was a Disney Princess.”

Two days after her post, the Sydney Morning Herald’s Andrew Hornery admitted in a since-deleted op-ed that the paper had planned to out Wilson before she was ready to do so herself.

Wilson later told The Australian, “Basically, with the situation, where a journalist is threatening to out you, you’ve got to hurry, and some people we didn’t get a chance to tell before it came out publicly. And that’s not ideal.”

“There are levels to telling people. You tell your close family and your friends and not everybody. Across our two families, not everybody is as accepting as what you’d hope for, and we were trying to be respectful to those people and tell them in our way,” Wilson said.

Listen to Wilson’s full interview with “Desert Island Discs” on BBC Radio 4, where she shares some of her favorite tunes, right here.