Guy Pearce points out the hypocrisy in people wanting only LGBT actors to play LGBT roles

Guy Pearce has pointed out the hypocrisy in people calling for LGBTQ+ actors to be the only ones to get LGBTQ+ roles.

The Memento star wrote in a now-deleted tweet: "A question – if the only people allowed to play trans characters are trans folk, then are we also suggesting the only people trans folk can play are trans characters?"

He added: "Surely that will limit your career as an actor? Isn’t the point of an actor to be able to play anyone outside your own world?"

Pearce, who's own breakout role was the 1994 Baz Luhrmann classic Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, then tweeted again as people began to kick off over his question.

"Okay, so if this debate is actually about trans actors not getting the opportunities to work like other actors do, then let’s be clear about that and state that precisely," he tweeted.

He added: "That’s a very different point. Good to be exact, I say."

But, despite his attempt at clarification, the actor soon deleted the tweets and replaced them with a lengthy statement and apology.

"I posted a tweet yesterday that I shouldn't have, which to prevent upsetting anyone else I have now deleted," the 55-year-old actor wrote.

"The point I wanted to raise was one about defending the definition of acting and nothing more.

"Throwing the subject onto one minority group in particular was unnecessary, especially from a man like me, with a 'Full House' of privilege."

The actor added that he still believes 'that to suggest "acting" can only come from our own lived experience annihilates our imagination'.

He added: "I wouldn’t want that restriction placed on a minority actor or any actor for that matter, myself included."

Pearce said people have questioned whether someone from the LGBTQ+ community should have been cast in his role as a gay drag performer in Priscilla.

But, in a 2018 episode of The Graham Norton Show, Pearce said his portrayal of Adam Whitely and Felicia Jollygoodfellow won him support from some fans in the LGBTQ+ community.

"We weren't aware of it at the time, but even now I get people coming up to me saying, 'That film helped me come out to my parents'," Pearce said.

In 2021, Hugo Weaving, who also starred in Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, told Stellar that 'no gay actor wanted to be seen playing those roles'.

"The nonsense surrounding it was extraordinary," he added.

"Also, the logical extension of the argument is that if you have to be gay to play a gay person, then do you have to be a murderer to play a murderer?"