Jack Innanen has opened up about playing Paul Baker in Adults, including whether he felt pressure representing a sexually fluid character and how he understands the queerbaiting criticism around the role. Adults follows a group of friends in their twenties as they try to figure out life, relationships and everything in between. Jack plays Paul Baker, whose sexuality is a big part of his storyline as he explores being sexually fluid while also being in a heterosexual relationship. So, questions around representation have followed the character. In a new Variety interview, Jack was asked whether he felt pressure to accurately represent Paul’s experience as a sexually fluid character. He explained, “I don’t think I felt much pressure, because it is so encapsulated in who the character is.” However, he added, “I hadn’t experienced it until this season that people were coming up to me and saying that Paul Baker helped them learn about their own sexuality, or that they discovered that they weren’t bi, they were fluid. He then said, “I’ve really felt, not pressure, but that there’s some type of representative responsibility here. I was just really glad that it could do that, and that it could be represented so well.” Jack Innanen also addressed queerbaiting claims Credit: FX Jack was then asked about queerbaiting, particularly because he is a straight actor playing a sexually fluid character. He explained that his understanding of queerbaiting is when someone is falsely presenting themselves as queer. “I think my understanding is that queerbaiting is when someone is falsely portraying themselves as queer,” he said. But that does not really apply to Paul Baker because the character’s sexuality is an important part of who he is. Jack said, “And Paul Baker is pretty fluid to the core, and I think that resonated with many people. I knew that there was some critique in the beginning of the bi guy or fluid guy who’s in a heterosexual relationship.” He added, “But the love triangle was so accepted and natural and true to the character. I think that there wasn’t much queerbait to him.” For all the latest film and TV updates and hot takes, like our Facebook page. Post navigation Next story
