There are plenty of genuinely terrible things going on in the world, some of which are playing out in TV reportage. But a gay kiss isn’t one of them, and it’s certainly no reason to stop watching The Exorcist, showrunner Jeremy Slater says. But, if anyone is so delicate as to be unable to tolerate seeing grown men engage in a consensual kiss (is it the consent that’s throwing them off?), Slater doesn’t give a fuck.
In an interview with Sci-Fi Bulletin, Slater talks about the Twitter meltdowns of some straight snowflakes, who raged after seeing Father Marcus (Ben Daniels) kiss a character played by Christopher Cousins. “I saw a couple of homophobes on Twitter and my response is, ‘Good, fuck you. I’m glad you didn’t like it, I’m glad it ruined the show for you,” Slater says. “You shouldn’t have good things in your life.” The Fox supernatural drama established early on that Marcus is bi, the creator explains, “which is pretty rare on television in general and certainly on network television, where everyone has binary definitions of gay or straight.” Part of season two has involved exploring “all facets of his sexuality and character,” which is something the show wasn’t able to do in season one.
So, Slater says, “if a homophobe can’t watch the show anymore because one of the characters is gay, then I’m glad something good has come out of it.” After all, it’s 2017, “and we still have people throwing temper tantrums online because they don’t want to see gay characters,” when there’s an abundance of things that should legitimately be decried. But the Exorcist producer says that was mostly positive, so seriously, fuck anyone who can’t handle seeing anyone other than heteronormative characters smooch: “I think it’s the last gasp of a certain breed of dinosaur that’s on the way out, and let them kick and scream as they go.”