Fans havee jumped to the defence of Tom Holland after he faced cruel trolls who criticised his LGBTQ role in The Crowded Room.
The Spider-Man sensation, 27, stars in and produces the Apple TV+’s psychological thriller series, a role he claims ‘broke him’.
A clip of one of Tom’s steamy sex scenes with a man has gone viral on social media, with many praising the British actor for his diverse role choices and for taking on such complex character.
Some trolls though critisised the star, with one tweeting: ‘Tom Gone Wrong #NotMySpiderMan.’
Tom plays Danny Sullivan in the thriller, a young man who is arrested on suspicion of committing a bone-chilling crime who reveals details about his alternate personality disorder during interviews with an interrogator, played by Amanda Seyfried.
One of the character’s other personalities is a woman named Ariana, who has an intimate scene with a man during one of the episodes.
Fan support: Fans have jumped to the defence of Tom Holland after he faced cruel trolls who criticised his LGBTQ role in The Crowded Room
Tough role: Tom plays Danny Sullivan, a young man who is arrested on suspicion of committing a bone-chilling crime who reveals details about his alternate personality disorder during interviews with an interrogator
Tom’s fans were quick to point out that fellow Spider-Man actors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield have played gay characters before.
One fan commented: ‘So glad to see tom holland continuing the peter parker tradition of having hot gay sex.’
Another one, joined the conversation and said: ‘Andrew Garfield has been a huge ally to the lgbt+ community for years, won a Tony for playing a gay man, and has kissed multiple men on TV. Plus more things…and today he is being used by homophobes against Tom Holland for one scene…please make it stop.’
‘The people posting ‘not my spiderman’ about tom holland because of his gay scene like… honey i have some news for you,’ a third fan wrote.
‘People when they see tom holland playing a gay role even though they know he’s an actor and he is doing what he is paid for,’ penned another user.
Another person commented in a conversation thread: ‘So it has no relation to him being Spider-man. Spider-man is Spider-man, Tom Holland playing gay man won’t make Spider-Man gay. Benedict Cumberbatch played two gay character and I have never seen someone say ‘not my Dr. Strange.”
The Impossible star, however, has since revealed he is taking a year long break from acting after his role in The Crowded Room ‘broke him’.
Acting: . One of the character’s other personalities is a woman named Ariana, who has an intimate scene with a man during one of the episodes
Remember this? Tom’s fans were quick to point out that fellow Spider-Man actors, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield have played gay characters before
The Hollywood star said that playing the lead in the dark psychological thriller as well as producing, was ‘tough’.
And after a busy two years which has also seen him lead blockbuster movies Spider-Man: No Way Home and Uncharted, he is ready to step back from the limelight.
In an interview with ExtraTV, Tom said that after working on The Crowded Room ‘I’m now taking a year off, and that is a result of how difficult this show was.’
He added: ‘I am excited to see how it turns out, and I feel like our hard work wasn’t in vain.’
‘It was a tough time for sure,’ Tom has recalled of his time on set. ‘You know, we were exploring certain emotions that I have definitely never experienced before, and then on top of that, being a producer, dealing with the day to day problems that come with any film set, just added that extra level of pressure.’
‘But I really enjoyed it, I loved the learning curve of becoming a producer. I’m no stranger to hard work, I’ve always lived by this idea that hard work is good work. And I really enjoyed it.’
Difficult: It comes after Tom said that playing the lead in the dark psychological thriller as well as producing, was ‘tough’
‘But then again, the show did break me. There did come a time where I was sort of like, ‘I need to have a break.’
The Crowded Room took inspiration from Daniel Keyes’ 1981 non-fiction book The Minds of Billy Milligan, which centered on the individual of the same name.
Milligan, who was arrested for committing various felonies, was eventually acquitted of his crimes after he pled insanity following a diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder.
During the court case, he claimed that several of his alternate personalities had committed the crimes and that he had not been aware of his criminal actions.
The actor previously spoke to Entertainment Weekly and expressed that his involvement with the project caused him to reevaluate his own mental health.
‘Learning about mental health and the power of it, and speaking to psychiatrists about Danny and Billy’s struggles, has been something that has been so informative to my own life,’ he said.
Tom added: ‘I hope that people will feel educated about the powers of mental health, the struggles, [and] our incredible abilities to survive.’
Break: In an interview with ExtraTV, Tom said that after working on The Crowded Room ‘I’m now taking a year off, and that is a result of how difficult this show was’
