No one in Hollywood was safe while out comedian and actor Billy Eichner promoted his highly-anticipated, upcoming gay romantic comedy film Bros.
On Wednesday night, footage from the film (which features an all-LGBTQ+ cast) was screened during Universal Studios' presentation at CinemaCon in Las Vegas. As reported by The Hollywood Reporter and IndieWire, Eichner was present for the screening of selected clips and talked about all of the absurdities of Hollywood taking this long to greenlight a major-studio rom-com featuring a same-sex couple and assemble a cast of LGBTQ+ actors to play all the roles (yes, even the straight and cisgender roles) in the film.
"Look at all the things moviegoers believe - Star Wars, Spider-Man, and Transformers," Eichner said. "You don't think a gay man can play straight, but you believe in Chewbacca?" He also noted, "I think it's important that before we got one movie about a gay couple, we got two movies about a talking hedgehog."
Gizmodo reporter Germain Lussier also quoted Eichner saying, "You're about to see a trailer for the first gay rom-com ever made by a major studio, and I'm not talking about that movie starring Buzz Lightyear."
The comedian then looked back at the history of rom-coms over the years: "All those years of me seeing those movies with my parents as a kid - Pretty Woman, Dirty Dancing, When Harry Met Sally, Annie Hall - they were never about people like me."
In true Billy on the Street form, Eichner didn't miss out on the chance to take a few, funny digs. "This is the most exciting thing to happen in Caesars Palace since Adele refunds," he remarked. "Usually when I come to Vegas, I come to see gay icons perform - like Cher, Britney Spears, and the Bellagio fountain."
On a more serious note, Eichner also talked about the importance of Bros as a big-budget Hollywood rom-com featuring a same-sex couple and an all-LGBTQ+ cast. "I know it's weird for me to say this about my movie, but it is unlike any comedy or romantic comedy that you have ever seen," the comedian explained. "It's not about gay people suffering tragically. It's about how hard it is to find another tolerable human being to go through life with."
Bros premieres in theaters on September 30.
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