Kevin Spacey’s knowing nod to gay rumours

Kicking off his hosting duties with a song-and-dance spectacular referencing all the year’s Best Musical nominees, Spacey made several winking jokes about ‘coming out’.

umours about the never-married 57-year-old Oscar winner’s sexuality have swirled for decades now.

Fellow actor Whoopi Goldberg made a brief cameo in the opener, stepping out of a closet onto the stage as Spacey performed.

“Whoopi, how long have you been in that closet?” Spacey asked.

“Well Kevin, it depends on who you ask,” she shot back, earning big laughs from the audience.

In a later skit that saw Spacey seek advice from previous award show hosts, comedian Billy Crystal appeared with some simple advice: “If all else fails, put on a dress.”

Spacey took his advice, and within moments he was dressed as Norma Desmond, who Glenn Close plays to huge acclaim in the current Sunset Boulevard revival.

Norma drag donned, Spacey belted out one line, showtune style: “I’m coming out,” he sang, before stopping himself.

“No, wait, no …”

These playful nods to rumours about his sexuality contrast with his earlier refusal to speak about his personal life. In a 2007 interview, he slammed those who “gossip” about his sexuality.

“I’ve just never believed in pimping my personal life out for publicity. I’m not interested in doing it. Never will do it. They can gossip all they want; they can speculate all they want. I just happen to believe that there’s a public life and there’s a private life. Everybody has a right to a private life no matter what their profession is,” he said.

That may be the case, but it hasn’t stopped rampant speculation. As Daily Beast notes, writer and presenter Andy Cohen, himself openly gay, even discussed Spacey’s sexuality in his own memoir, demanding the American Beauty star come out.

“I still get enraged when I think about [Spacey] talking about being in love with that woman on 60 Minutes,” he wrote. “Come out, sir.”

"Kevin Spacey makes a coming out joke" is a finish-your-drink on your Tonys drinking game.

— Kevin O'Keeffe (@kevinpokeeffe) June 12, 2017

Is there a consensus on whether or not we expect Kevin Spacey to kinda sorta skirt around something resembling coming out at the Tonys?

— bobby finger (@bobbyfinger) June 10, 2017

Catching up on #tonyawards: "I'mmmm coming out... Oh wait a minute." @KevinSpacey you're killing us, sir.

— Oakley Boren (@OakMonster) June 12, 2017