The Pass star Arinzé Kene says football must be more open about gay players

Kene said he was often asked, as a straight man, if he felt comfortable playing a homosexual
Challenging role: Arinzé Kene plays a footballer who comes out as gay in The Pass
Dave Benett
The Weekender

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Actor Arinzé Kene has said society “should be better” at talking about homophobia after playing a footballer who comes out as gay.

The rising star from Hackney recently won best supporting actor at the Evening Standard British Film Awards for his role as Ade in acclaimed film The Pass.

In the film, he and Being Human star Russell Tovey spend a night together and Ade later has a gay relationship, while Tovey’s character continues to hide his sexuality.

In an interview with ES Magazine, Kene, 29, said he was often asked, as a straight man, if he felt comfortable playing a homosexual.

On screen romance: Arinzé Kene with Russell Tovey in The Pass

“I didn’t bat an eyelid at the role,” he said. “But because people asked, there’s obviously a contradiction in that statement — yes, it’s 2016 and we should be better than that, but are we? The truth is we’re probably not.

“There’s still no footballer who is openly out. There are bound to be gay men in the Premiership. So we should be better than this. But I’m not sure if we are.” Kene, who was in The Lion King and Daddy Cool in the West End before his film role, said football “must be more open”.

Evening Standard Film Awards 2016

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Kene, who was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and moved to Britain with his parents when he was four, fell into acting by accident when he took shelter from rain in a building where a youth theatre group was meeting.

He kept his passion for acting secret during his teens and while studying at St Aloysius College in Highgate, which he says was a “boisterous, boys-only school”. “I was from Hackney as well,” he said. “You’re meant to be streetwise, you’re meant to be hard.”

He said his parents had wanted him to be a doctor and did not understand his love of acting. “You’re telling your parents about how many plays you’re in and they are like, ‘Yeah but how much are you getting paid?’ ”

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