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‘Passions’ character Whitney (Brook Kerr) will likely be shocked to learn her husband, Chad (Charles Divins), is entangled in an affair with another man. (Photo by Trae Patton/NBC Universal)
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HOME > VIEWPOINT > ACTION! ALERT
By: ZACK HUDSON
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In the face of 300-year old witches and the once present threat of falling in love with and marrying his half-sister, Chad Harris Crane, a longtime hero on the NBC Daytime drama “Passions,” might just find his latest entanglement with a mysterious male lover to be a welcome respite.
Gay and African-American soap fans, however, are steamed over what some say is a reckless and negligent portrayal of down-low relationships, when seemingly straight men have affairs with other men.
“This revelation that Chad is cheating on his wife and true love, Whitney, with an unidentified male lover certainly has come out of left field,” said TVGuide.com soap columnist Daniel Coleridge, author of “The Q Guide to Soap Operas.”
“The Chad character has been a heroic leading man on ‘Passions’ since 1999, and viewers have never been given the impression that he felt any sexual attraction toward men.”
The show, on the air since September 1999, has been canceled and its last episode will air Sept. 7.
Viewers have been aware of Chad’s affair since late 2006, but only learned that his lover is another man on Feb. 2. The show plans to reveal the lover’s identity — he has previously only been photographed from the neck down — during the Feb. 27 episode.
Repeated attempts to reach “Passions” producers through the show’s publicity manager went unanswered by press time.
Actor Charles Divins, who portrays Chad, shared with TV Guide magazine that his character’s actions are motivated strictly by lust.
“Chad loves his wife, so in his heart this isn’t a deception. He is not in love with this other guy. He’s addicted to sex,” Divins said.
Despite Divins’ uncomplicated view of Chad’s promiscuousness, black gay journalist and blogger Rod McCullom, a “Passions” fan, laments the current twist in Chad’s story. The plot tarnishes the soap’s sterling reputation for diversity, he said.
“I think it’s a ridiculous turn of events. What I liked about ‘Passions’ when it debuted was that it had such a strong diversity of characters. Half the cast was African American or Latin,” he said.
In 2005, “Passions” producers added to the diverse cast by having the character of Simone return to Harmony, the fictional setting of the show, after exiting the closet as a lesbian and taking a lover.
On the basis of Simone’s story, which featured several scenes of the character kissing Rae, her older girlfriend, “Passions” picked up the 2006 GLAAD award for Outstanding Daytime Drama. The show is nominated in the same category again this year, though its treatment of gay characters is in question. A week after Chad’s affair was revealed, the Rae character was murdered during a bloody and violent attack by a would-be rapist.
McCullom figures that “Passions,” which has long been known for its sensational stories, is continuing its tradition on the backs of gay characters.
“Chad’s sexual orientation is becoming stereotypical, and he’s becoming something of a predator. I’ve seen him in hotel bedroom scenes with this character twice now, and both times he was drinking. Not champagne or something romantic, but out of a flask,” McCullom complained.
The idea the show could be tackling a social issue story by writing Chad on the down-low, is, at best, a dubious one to McCullom.
“I would think if they were trying to be timely, they could have offered that storyline a few years ago when Oprah was talking about it,” he said.
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