Billy Eichner calls for more openly gay characters in family movies

Comedian and The Lion King star Billy Eichner wants more openly gay characters in family films.

This after people questioned whether Timon and Pumba were gay because Eichner is gay in real life.

Eichner answered, saying he wasn't sure whether his character is gay, but said that more family films should include openly gay characters.

He told Associated Press that people often assume because the actor is gay, the character they play must be too.

"I mean, I'm gay and Nathan Lane's gay, so it's interesting when a straight actor does a role, no one's like, 'That character must be straight.' But because it's Nathan and me they're like, 'Oh, Timon must be gay.' Which is not to say he's not gay. You'll have to ask the writers. It's not specified in the script."

Eichner said it would be cool to see more openly LGBT characters in family entertainment and animated films to avoid having annoying discussions about whether a character is gay or not.

"Hopefully moving forward there will be openly gay characters in these types of movies," he said.

In an interview with BuzzFeed, the actor said gay people always have to sort of search for the closeted gay character because there are no openly gay characters, and they are so thirsty for them.

"People are always trying to find the gay character in animated movies. I think the way to correct that is to actually put gay characters in animated movies…One of the last frontiers for LGBT representation is animated family films," he told the publication.