Sherlock star Andrew Scott publicly comes out as gay
Sherlock actor Andrew Scott has has spoken out publicly for the first time to say that “as a gay person” he condemns Russian president Vladimir Putin for introducing anti-gay legislation to the country.
In an interview with the independent, the BAFTA-award winning actor spoke about his role in upcoming BBC2 drama ‘Legacy,’ where he sports a Russian accent.
When asked how he came to adopt the accent, Scott said: “There isn’t a huge amount of footage of Russians speaking English as a second language, so I started looking at Vladimir Putin videos on YouTube.
“But then Putin introduced anti-gay legislation this summer – so, being a gay person, I switched to Rudolf Nureyev videos instead. It was another Nureyev defection of sorts!”
On the topic of keeping a low profile on being gay, he added: “Mercifully, these days people don’t see being gay as a character flaw.
“But nor is it a virtue, like kindness. Or a talent, like playing the banjo. It’s just a fact.
“Of course, it’s part of my make-up, but I don’t want to trade on it. I am a private person; I think that’s important if you’re an actor. But there’s a difference between privacy and secrecy, and I’m not a secretive person.
“Really I just want to get on with my job, which is to pretend to be lots of different people. Simple as that.”
