Ray Richmond from the Hollywood Reporter is the latest to jump in on the “Merv Griffin was gay” meme:
Merv Griffin was gay.
Why should that be so uncomfortable to read? Why is it so difficult to write? Why are we still so jittery even about raising the issue in purportedly liberal-minded Hollywood, in 2007?
Griffin, who died of prostate cancer Sunday at 82, stayed in the closet throughout his life. Perhaps he figured it was preferable to remain the object of gossip rather than live openly as “one of them.”
But how tremendously sad it is that a man of Merv’s renown, of his gregarious nature and social dexterity, would feel compelled to endure such a stealthy double life even as the gay community’s clout, and its levels of acceptance and equality, rose steadily from the ashes of ignorance.
What a powerful message Griffin might have sent had he squired his male companions around town rather than Eva Gabor, his longtime good friend and platonic public pal. Imagine the amount of good Merv could have done as a well-respected, hugely successful, beloved and uncloseted gay man in embodying a positive image.
I had more than a passing acquaintance with him, having worked on “The Merv Griffin Show” as a talent coordinator/segment producer in 1985-86 as the show was winding down. Around the office, Merv’s being gay was understood but rarely discussed (and certainly never with him). We knew nothing of his relationships because he guarded his privacy fiercely, and we didn’t pry.
So now that he’s dead, you feel the need to violate that privacy and make public something that he, for his own reasons, obviously wanted to keep private ?
August 18th, 2007 at 9:03 am
Agreed. Leave him alone.