Kit Connor has opened up about feeling “objectified” by audiences during his stage performance in Romeo + Juliet.
The 21-year-old British actor — who assumed the role of Romeo in Sam Gold’s contemporary adaptation of the Shakespeare classic — revealed that a particular scene often drew uncomfortable attention. The moment in question occurred during “the big kiss” with co-star Rachel Zegler when Connor’s character was shirtless.
“I’d take my shirt off and see camera flashes from the audience,” he told The Cut in a new interview. “There was something quite seedy about that.”
“It’s hard to talk about it,” Connor continued. “It upset me at times, not because I felt objectified — and I did feel objectified at times, I’m not undermining that feeling — but what upset me more was that scene came right after my ‘Banished’ scene, in which Romeo threatens to kill himself.”
The Heartstopper actor said the experience made him realize he was still a young “heartthrob” to many of his fans — a concept that feels foreign to him.
“I grew up very self-conscious. I used to stand on a train platform and all I could think was, ‘That person thinks I’m an idiot or that person thinks my haircut’s s***,’” he said. “When Heartstopper came out, there was this evidence that my brain could use as a supply: that they might actually be thinking that.”
Connor’s candid admission comes three years after he claimed to have been “forced” into revealing his sexuality online due to his role in Heartstopper, Netflix’s series about a friendship-turned-romance between two teenage boys.
Connor was accused of queer-baiting after some viewers assumed he was straight.
The actor consequently wrote on X: “I'm bi. Congrats for forcing an 18-year-old to out himself. I think some of you missed the point of the show. Bye.”
In an appearance on the podcast Reign with Josh Smith around the same time, Connor spoke about the potential mental health dangers associated with outside speculation about someone’s sexuality.
In the cast, we're all 18 and we have a few people in their early 20s, and even with those older members of the cast, we're all so young, and to start speculating about our sexualities and maybe pressuring us to come out when maybe we're not ready,” he said.
“I feel like I'm perfectly confident and comfortable in my sexuality, but I don't feel the need to... I'm not too big on labels and things like that. I'm not massive about that and I don't feel like I need to label myself, especially not publicly,” he continued.
“It's 2022. It feels a bit strange to make assumptions about a person's sexuality just based on hearing their voice or seeing their appearance. I feel like that's a very interesting, slightly problematic, assumption to make.”
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