Lukas Gage Addresses Pressure to Label His Sexuality, His Thoughts on Sex Scenes & His Relationship With Chris Appleton & More in 'New York Times' Interview

On why he thinks sex scenes are important…

The actor was asked how his opinions about sex scenes in projects differed from his You co-star Penn Badgley, who requested that he not appear in intimate scenes during the fourth season of You.

“If we’re showing this character [on You] who has a hidden kink and he’s struggling with being honest, or a guy [on The White Lotus] who is having his first queer experience with his boss, I feel like it’s a disservice to not see that. But I totally respect Penn and his views. Maybe because I’m not married with kids, I’m like, I’ve got to give it away while I can,” Lukas said.

He described the conversation about doing away with sex scenes entirely as “a little weird.”

“I get a lot of backlash in my DMs about it, saying, ‘That’s so disgusting.’ And that pi-ses me off because I don’t want to yuck anyone’s yum,” he said. “But a lot of people can have a hard time separating the actor from the character, and then, suddenly, people are coming up to me at Starbucks asking [if the scene was real]. People forget it’s make-believe.”