Nick Jonas is a bonafide heartthrob who has dated several famous women, including Selena Gomez and Kate Hudson. Yet, his recent roles in Scream Queens and Kingdom find this triple-threat (singer/Wilhelmina model/actor extraordinaire) fielding lots of questions about his status as a gay icon.
In an interview with L’Uomo Vogue for its December issue, the Jonas Brothers alum said he doesn’t consider himself to be a gay icon.
“It’s an honor, but I don’t think of myself as an icon," Jonas said. "There should be a lot more straight artists who don’t have a problem with having gay fans.”
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On Scream Queens, Jonas plays Boone, a frat boy who pretends to be gay and dons a red devil suit while killing his classmates and friends. In Kingdom, Jonas is a closeted gay boxer attempting to keep his professional and private lives separate. Jonas sees portraying these characters as an acting challenge.
“I’m really proud to play gay characters and I’ll continue to do so," he insisted. "I think it’s among the challenges of maturing as an actor."
When he’s choosing roles, Jonas is never concerned about the sexual orientation of his characters. Instead, he focuses on “what the story is and what the audience is going to get out of it.” Such was the case with his Kingdom character, Nate Kulina.
When asked about Kingdom by USA Today, Jonas said, “With Kingdom, my character is going through a really different journey where he’s struggling with who he is. I think that’s a highly relatable story line that a lot of my fans, both gay and straight, have come and told me that that’s been incredibly important for them: to see the journey he’s on and to know they’re not alone, whatever it is that they’re going through in their life that makes them feel different or strange. There’s real peace and a community and a story being told that feels honest and grounded.”
Jonas may not embrace the term "gay icon," but he’s an ally if there ever were one.