Doug Savant Once Had aMelrose PlaceCostar Refuse an Onscreen Kiss Because He Wasn't 'Comfortable' Playing a Gay Character

Mar. 15, 2025

Doug Savant attends a Rocketman Pre-Grammy Celebration at Verse on January 23, 2020 in Toluca Lake, California.Photo:Amy Graves/Getty

Amy Graves/Getty

Doug Savantis reflecting on a behind-the-scenes conflict regarding his gay character onMelrose Place.

In a Nov. 20 episode of theStill The Placepodcast, Savant and co-hostsLaura Leighton,Courtney Thorne-SmithandDaphne Zunigadiscussed the challenges of having a gay character on a popular show in the ‘90s. Savant, 60, then shared a story about a time there was pushback from another actor.

“There was an actor I was working with who wasn’t as comfortable that he was playing someone who was gay,” he recalled. “I wanted, in an effort to show that [his character Matt Fielding] was behaving with this character in a way that was against his better judgment, I wanted him to steal a kiss at work. Like, look around, make sure no one was looking, but kiss this guy in the cheek — just a peck on the cheek.”

“This other actor was so uncomfortable,” Savant continued. “He was like, ‘That’s not in the script, we’re not doing that.’ He was so uncomfortable with it. I sort of found that shocking.”

Dout Savant on Melrose Place.FOX

FOX

Savant, who is married to Leighton, said the network wanted to keep his character “palatable,” which, at the time, meant minimizing his gay storyline and clarifying that he was straight in real life. (PEOPLE has reached out to Fox for comment.)

“In the defense of like the actor that I just said and anyone that had any objection to me playing the role to begin with, it was a very real thing,” he explained. “The business didn’t cut into it and it was an issue for me going forward. And so much so that I had an executive who told me, ‘Yeah, we need to let the gay thing go.’”

“Then when it was time for this episode, [they said] that the most comfortable storyline the network could find that everybody could sign off on was this gay bashing,” Savant noted. “There were very limited storylines that the network would be comfortable with because the advertisers were only comfortable sort of touching on certain things — and one of them was the gay bashing and the other was a kid coming out to his parents or that sort of awkward conversation.”

Top, L-R: Rob Estes, Andrew Shue, Marcia Cross. 2nd row, L-R: Thomas Calabro, Jack Wagner, Courtney Thorne-Smith. 3rd row, L-R: Laura Leighton, Doug Savant, Heather Locklear, Josie Bissett, Grant Show. Bottom, L-R:Brooke Langton, David Charvet, Lisa Rinna.20th Century Fox Television/Fotos International/Getty

20th Century Fox Television/Fotos International/Getty

When Thorne-Smith asked if Savant was allowed to “show any affection” with male interests on the show, he said generally, “No,” because it wasn’t what “the networks felt safe dealing with.”

“I think we surreptitiously held hands underneath the table,” he explained, referring to a scene in season 2 between his character Matt andJason Beghe’s Jeffrey Lindley, a closeted Navy Lieutenant.

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Still the Placeis available to stream wherever you get your podcasts, andMelrose Placeis available to stream on Paramount+.

source: people.com