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With movies like The Lion King and The Birdcage as well as the Broadway production of The Producers in his credits, Nathan Lane has been a fixture of American cinema and theater for generations. However, the fact that he has been openly gay for decades has stopped him from getting some jobs, including a role opposite Michael Jordan in Space Jam. That’s right; apparently, Nathan Lane was too gay to be in Space Jam, if you can believe it.

We’re going to preface this whole article by saying that Nathan Lane is exactly the right amount of gay to play any role he wants. The man is an acting institution who deserves all the accolades he has gotten over the years and the idea that we could have had even more of him if Hollywood wasn't awful is a tragedy. The revelation comes from a recent interview with Nathan Lane where he says, “Homophobia is alive and well still.” Though he suspects that said homophobia “played a part” in shaping the roles he was offered. While he doesn’t have a definite list of roles he was denied because of his sexuality as he doesn’t know “what goes on behind closed doors,” Lane knows that Space Jam was one of them.

“I was told [being gay did] impact a movie that I didn’t really care about: ‘Space Jam,’” he explained to Vanity Fair. “I was up for the part that the guy from ‘Seinfeld’ wound up playing.” The part in question is the role of Stan, who was Michael Jordan’s publicist and assistant that was played by Wayne Knight. “I was up for that part. Apparently the director saw me hosting the Tony Awards and thought that suggested I was too gay to play the part. So thank God, I didn’t have to do ‘Space Jam.’”

While Lane clearly isn’t upset about not getting to witness the acting prowess of Michael Jordan up close, he does still lament that his sexuality – and his decision to be open about it for so long – has impacted his career. In the aftermath of The Birdcage, which was a huge box office hit for Lane, he thought more doors would open.

“I thought perhaps because of the success of that, it’d lead to other films, but then it didn’t. It really didn’t,” Lane said. “I said to my agent, ‘I thought more would happen after “The Birdcage.”’ He said, ‘Maybe if you weren’t so open about your lifestyle, it would have.’”

While Nathan Lane has had a remarkable career that continues to this day, it is clear that it would have looked very different if Hollywood’s homophobia hadn’t been working against him for so long.

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