Sean Hayes says the cast of Will & Grace received some confusing hate mail after the series premiered in 1998.
During an episode of the SmartLess podcast released on Monday, Sean told his co-hosts Jason Bateman and Will Arnett that he and his cast mates “used to get death threats all the time” from people angry about the series featuring gay characters.
The show followed the friendship between Debra Messing’s Grace Adler and Eric McCormack’s Will Truman, a straight woman and her gay best friend living in New York City. Sean played character Jack McFarland, who was also gay, while Megan Mullally rounded out their quirky clique as Karen Walker.
While the death threats were one thing, Sean said there was a less menacing message that managed to etch into his memory.
Detailing “one of the greatest letters we ever got,” the actor said, “This woman wrote in to Will & Grace – took the time, got a pen, paper, wrote it, got a stamp, mailed it. Remember, this was before the internet and everything. It’s a lot of effort to really share with someone how much you hate them.”
“This one woman wrote in, and she said, ‘We’re all going to hell. You should be ashamed for putting this on television. You’re all horrible people. But I love the show, I just don’t like what it’s about,’” Sean continued.
“It was the craziest thing,” he added.
The Emmy-winning actor previously talked about how getting death threats while on Will & Grace left him “scared” for his safety during a 2018 interview with The Guardian.
“I didn’t have the tools at such a young age to deal with the ramifications of coming out as gay in a huge public way,” said Sean, who waited until 2010 to come out publicly.
“But wisdom comes with age,” he continued. “And you realise, ‘Oh, I was doing more damage in not coming out sooner. I should have been more fearless, like my character.’”
Listen to the full episode of SmartLess online.