Lebanese-American actor Haaz Sleiman has opened up about his sexuality in a video posted to his Twitter page.
He begins by saying that a recent study has found that more LGBTQ people living in the United States have been murdered so far this year than in 2016.
“So this video is my response to this study,” he says.
“I am a gay, Muslim, Arab-American man,” he says before slowly repeating the sentence.
“And I’m going to take it even further: Not only am I gay, but I’m also a bottom. Not only am I a bottom, but I’m also a total bottom which means I like it up you know where.”
He continues with a message for those who don't support equal rights for the LGBT+ community.
“And I say this to all the homophobes living in the United States of America and across the globe.
“If you ever come to me, to kill me just because I’m gay, I will destroy you. I might be gay and I might be a nice guy, but don’t get it twisted because I will f*** you up.”
Two days after posting the video to Twitter, Sleiman then posted on his Instagram page about an interview he did with LGBT+ publication ‘The Advocate’ in 2009 about his portrayal of gay character Mo-Mo in the series Nurse Jackie.
“I told Showtime only on one condition, no personal questions,” he writes about the interview.
“The advocate agreed. At the end of the half hour interview over the phone the idiot interviewer, whom I think was gay (😔), asked me if was gay or straight (no personal questions)...
“I was so shocked. I froze. My body started shaking. And then I lied and said I was straight. Shame on gay people who are not kind to other gay people. He did that on purpose. 😔
As well as Nurse Jackie, Sleiman has previously starred in shows such as NCIS, Person of Interest and The Good Wife.
