Tom Holland fans have leapt to the actor’s defence after his sex scene in the latest episode ofThe Crowded Room went viral.
The Apple TV+ series is inspired by the true story of Billy Milligan, the first person acquitted of a crime due to dissociative identity disorder.
The psychological thriller follows Danny Sullivan (a man based on Milligan and played by Holland) after he was arrested for his involvement in a New York City shooting in 1979.
Danny unveils his life through a series of interviews with interrogator Rya Goodwin (Amanda Seyfried), and slowly details to Rya, and the audience, his mysterious past that led him to this point.
In the scene in question, from episode eight of the show titled “Reunion”, Danny goes to a club wearing all black and thick eyeliner. After dancing with one man, they head to the toilet for some steamy sex.
At another point, he’s shown dancing while high on drugs, and performing oral sex.
The scene hasn’t gone down well with everyone on social media, prompting many to retaliate to some of the homophobic criticism.
“Watching fragile cishet men have breakdowns over the reason Tom Holland is trending is sweet wine to me,” one tweeted. “Oh honey, you realise that he’s an ACTOR, right? He’s not ACTUALLY Spider-Man. He can take any roles he wants, yes, including queer ones. Now breathe deeply and touch some grass.”
“Straight men on the internet’s reaction to that Tom Holland clip just proves y’all see gay sex as nasty and degrading or a joke cus there is no way y’all should be acting like traumatised like this over a sex scene,” added a second.
A third called out “people being homophobic f***faces over Tom Holland playing a queer role and saying ‘not my spidey’”.
“People making homophobic jokes about this need to understand that the hallmark of a good actor is letting yourself be open to new roles that challenge you,” a fourth shared. “Tom Holland has been typecast a lot in his career but I applaud him for taking a risk and doing something different.”
