Fans Support Tom Holland Following Homophobic Response to Gay Sex Scene

Fans of current Spider-Man actor Tom Holland proceeded to defend him from a number of social media trolls who attempted to condemn the star for taking part in an LGBTQ+ television role. The latest episode of The Crowded Room, an Apple+ TV series featuring the young actor as the lead, saw Holland’s portrayal of real-life felon Billy Milligan having sexual intercourse with another man. This resulted in Holland facing scrutiny and homophobic abuse from social media users who were against these scenes, starting a hashtag trend announcing #NotMySpiderMan.

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Upon witnessing the backlash, fans of the actor immediately rushed to his defense. With one of the major criticisms from homophobes being that Holland should not be performing such explicit scenes whilst undertaking a family-friendly role like Spider-Man, many social media users were quick to point out that two of Holland’s superhero predecessors also took part in explicit LGBTQ+ roles.

Actors Toby Maguire, who played the role of Spider-Man from 2002-2007, and Andrew Garfield, who took over the role in 2012-2014, both have a filmographic history of playing queer roles in TV, film and theatre. Fans of the three actors pointed out that if Tom Holland is ‘not their Spider-Man' for his role in The Crowded Room, then the other two actors are also ‘not their Spider-Man'.

Prior to this episode’s release, interest in The Crowded Room was relatively minimal in comparison to the record-breaking success of Holland’s recent project Spider-Man: No Way Home. The reviews were mixed to negative, receiving a 33% approval rating on review site Rotten Tomatoes. However, interest has sparked – particularly among the LGBTQ+ community – upon the release of the most recent episode, with many deciding to tune in and stream the series.

The Crowded Room is not the only show this year to receive homophobic backlash from internet trolls. The third episode of hit-series The Last of Us followed the blossoming romance between a gay couple during an epidemic, and though it received critical acclaim and very positive reviews, there was still significant levels of anti-queer backlash on social media. Such views are still held firmly online, so it continues to be more important than ever to continue positive LGBTQ+ representation and defend members of the community and allies from any bigoted response.

The Crowded Room starring Tom Holland is available to stream now on Apple+ TV, with the full series concluding towards the end of July.

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