With the U.S. election just around the corner, Young Hollywood has stepped up to add their voices to the "No to Prop 8" campaign, which aims to strike down a proposition that would eliminate the right for same-sex couples to marry in California. Now, it seems the tolerance torch has been passed from crusader Hilary Duff's impeccably accessorized hand to Canada's own Dustin Milligan, star of soapy teen drama 90210.
On his official site, Milligan has posted a message apologizing for a YouTube skit he and his roommates made years ago, in which he called Elvis the "king of homos."
The Yellowknife-born actor writes, "To all my readers, gay, straight, bi, still deciding: I'm truly sorry and deeply embarrassed by this. My personal views on homosexuality and bisexuality and sexuality in general are so far from the dark place where these kinds of hateful terms come from and are not at all reflected accurately by such a statement. Especially now, when same-sex marriage is such a big issue in the US, I feel the days when jokingly calling someone a "homo" or saying "that's gay" are simply over."
Milligan, who explains the video was a pilot for a web series that was never picked up, adds "No one should be made to feel like they or their sexuality/lifestyle is synonymous with "stupid", and no one should be made to feel like they are less than anyone else because of who they love... I hope my kids never use these hurtful words as flippantly as I have. Again, I am ashamed for having said it and to everyone out there, fans, friends, family, and the LGBT community: I'm sorry. I suppose Elvis fans might be upset too: I'm sorry."
Milligan should blog more often. Not only did we learn that his ex-roommate is Stick It's Vanessa Lengies (who bestowed upon the world the best teen movie line ever: "It's not called gym-nice-tics!"), but we discovered that he's articulate, funny and humble. Perhaps he should ask permission to write his own 90210 dialogue? We might actually make it through a whole episode if he did.
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