HBO
While accepting the award for Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series at the Independent Spirit Awards on Sunday for his work in The Last of Us, former Parks & Rec star Nick Offerman hit out at the “homophobes” who had an issue with the episode.
Offerman, who also won this year’s Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his performance in HBO’s hit series The Last of Us, starred alongside The White Lotus alum Murray Bartlett in a bottle episode that detailed the lives of two men who fall in love during the apocalypse.
The episode was one of the best-reviewed of the season, but still, there were plenty of people who voiced their issues with it, and they were on the receiving end of Offerman’s criticism during his acceptance speech.
“Thank you so much, Film Independent. I’m astonished to be in this category, which is bananas,” Offerman said.
“Thanks to HBO for having the guts to participate in this storytelling tradition that is truly independent. Stories with guts that when homophobic hate comes my way and says, ‘Why did you have to make it a gay story?’ We say, ‘Because you ask questions like that. It’s not a gay story, it’s a love story, you a—–.”
Season two of The Last of Us, which stars the new face of the MCU Pedro Pascal, will hit HBO in 2025.