Dan Levy Recalls Facing Homophobia During His Early MTV Days: ‘It’s Almost Like You’re a Real Man’

Dan Levy has seen quite the strides in LGBTQ inclusivity since starting his television career more than 15 years ago.

After making his onscreen debut in 2006 on MTV Canada’s MTV Live, the Emmy Award winner, 39, says he “didn’t feel particularly free” to be an openly gay man on the show.

“It was kind of like, ‘Conform to the culture of the workplace or sit it out.’ But it was never like, ‘Let’s pause what we’re doing to listen to you,'” recalled Levy as he appeared on Thursday’s debut episode of the Phone a Friend with Jessi Cruickshank podcast.

He and Cruickshank, 40, co-hosted MTV Live together, as well as The After Show. Although Levy was out in his personal life at the time, he says the work environment wasn’t quite as inclusive.

“I remember walking into work one day and someone asked me what I did on the weekend,” he said. “I said, ‘Well, I installed a dimmer switch in my apartment.’ And that person said, ‘Wow, it’s almost like you’re a real man.'”

“And I thought, ‘This isn’t right.’ But at the time, there was no sensitivity, and there was nobody to go to because it was a different time,” Levy explained.

The Schitt’s Creek star noted that there weren’t “a ton of out actors that were thriving and drowning in work” at the time, and many gossip bloggers “[made] it their job to out people without their consent, like it was some kind of news responsibility.”

“We didn’t have the sensitivity, I think, that we do now, at least around people’s coming out and the fact that it’s an incredibly personal experience,” he said. “I mean, I think we all knew it at the time.”

“So, when you do feel like there’s this hunt to out gay people of note in culture, it almost makes you want to hide even more because you don’t want to draw any attention to yourself,” added Levy.

George Pimentel/WireImage

Following his time on MTV Live, Levy went on to star in several TV shows and films, including Degrassi Goes Hollywood and the 2012 thriller Cyberstalker, before creating Schitt’s Creek with his dad, Eugene, in 2015.

The beloved Canadian sitcom followed the Rose family whose lives were uprooted after being defrauded by their business manager, so they had to start over in the titular rural town.

The show received major critical acclaim and won nine Primetime Emmy Awards, two SAG Awards, and two GLAAD Media Awards for outstanding comedy series. Levy, himself, also won four Emmy Awards for the show’s sixth and final season.

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In 2020, Levy was honored with the Human Rights Campaign’s Visibility Award for “moving LGBTQ visibility forward by inspiring us to embrace all of who we are,” HRC president Alphonso David announced at the time.

“By creating and inhabiting the world of Schitt’s Creek as a community where people are welcomed no matter who they are or whom they love,” David added. “Levy is helping take all of us closer to that reality.”