Joey Pollari: American Horror Story's Ben has flirted with Nick Robinson and kissed Tab Hunter, but is he gay in real life? With Nick and Joey dicks

 Last night we watched the premiere of American Horror Story, Season 13, entitled "13."  It was about what you would expect from AHS: an opening where "Are you scared?" sounds like "Great skin," heavy-handed symbolism,  people introduced with their back turned so we'll be surprised when they turn around, gore, homophobia, and a lot of cute guys.  In this case, just one cute guy, Ben (Joe Pollari), who has triskaidekaphobia (fear of the number 13).  

Unfortunately, he is dating a girl with triskaidekaphilia (love of the number 13). For her birthday (on the 13th), she wants to visit the 13 Cayman Islands with her 12 closest friends (making 13).  Ben doesn't want to go, for obvious reasons, but at the last moment, he decides to make a mad dash to the airport, and board Flight 1313, where he is in seat 13d. The plane crashes, and everyone is killed -- except Ben.

Next he gets a job as a hospice aid to an infinitely wealthy vampire-like being whose apartment is full of Satanic imagery, plus the real Last Supper (with Jesus and 12 disciples making 13).   Meanwhile,  a coven of witches gets upset because "something wicked this way comes," a serial killer clown murders 12 students and the teacher at a clown college (making 13), and Jessica Lange resurrects a lot of characters who died in previous seasons (including two Evan Peters). 

Heck with a review. Let's just profile the hunky Joey Pollari.  

Joey was born in 1994, and grew up in Minneapolis, and broke into acting after attending a scouting event -- the next day agents started calling.  After taking acting lessons and doing a guest spot on Cold Case, he landed his first starring role in Disney's Skyrunners (2009). Tyler (Joey) stumbles upon a spaceship, which gives him magical powers.  He uses them to help his older brother Nick (Kelly Blatz) win The Girl of His Dreams.  

Well, at least Tyler isn't winning a girl.

Next he starred in The In-Betweeners (2012), about four high schoolers who are virgins and want to get laid.  With girls.  It was on MTV, what do you expect?  

Eden (2014) is Lost without the paranormal: A soccer team (plus The Girl) is stranded on a desert island.  As far as I can tell, there's no gay content, but Michael Cardelle (left) shows his stuff.

The gay roles begin the anthology series American Crime, Season 2 (2014).  A high is  outed when "incriminating" photos are published online.  He accuses three jocks, including Erik (Joey), of drugging and raping him.  Then Erik is forcibly outed, and claims that it was consensual.  Then Taylor murders one of them.  It's all very sordid, and I thought we had moved beyond "being gay is a horrible secret that can never be revealed." 

Love, Simon (2018), a movie about a closeted high schooler (Nick Robinson) who has to wrangle finding the identity of his crush and dealing with a blackmailer who threatens to reveal his secret.  Another terrible secret that must never be revealed?  I'm seeing some internalized homophobia in these portrayals

Left: Mr. Man says that Nick is the guy with the cock shot.

More after the break

Jan-Michael Vincent: His nude photo was the talk of West Hollywood.

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Oliver Sawell: A Surrey boy plays two gay guys, posts a shirtless Spiderman, and throws it. With three nude co-stars

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Jay R. Ferguson: The "obviously gay" teen idol of the 1990s moves on to play a 1960s sleazoid and the dad of gay sons. With Jay and Carter cocks

In the early 1990s, I was living in West Hollywood, and completely immersed in the LGBT community.  Media from the Straight World was suspect, if not homophobic than heteronormative, presenting men and women gazing at each other as the meaning of life.  So we chose our television programs carefully. On Monday nights, it was Fresh Prince of Bel Air (Carleton, sigh!), Blossom (Joey Lawrence, sigh!), and Designing Women (drag queen inspiration Suzanne Sugarbaker).  Certainly not Evening Shade (1990-94), with Burt Reynolds as a football coach (ugh!) in a small town (ugh!) in Arkansas (ugh!).

So when this photo of a shirtless, partying young man began appearing on all of the gay celebrity websites, we had no idea who he was. 

The photos kept coming.  We discovered that he was Jay R. Ferguson, who played Taylor, son of Burt Reynolds' character Wood.  Wood?  Really?

 Generally he was swishing it up, as in this iconic photo: apparently saying "Hey, Girl!" in a classic twink outfit, a short top. a bare midriff, and jeans with a club bulge.  Obviously gay!  

In the days when television was entirely heterosexist or homophobic,when even the most flamboyant actor stayed in the closet or saw his career fade away, seeing "one of us" was amazing.  

Unfortunately,the only way to conduct research was to buy a teen magazine -- and the Different Light bookstore on Santa Monica did not stock Tiger Beat.  

The show ended, the photo stream ended, and we forgot about the obviously-gay Jay.  .

For thirty years.

Until 2025, when The Real O'Neils (2016-2018) appeared on Hulu.  A conservative Irish-Catholic family has to deal with a number of problems: Dad wants a divorce; the daughter is an atheist; the oldest son (Matthew Shively) has an eating disorder; the youngest son (Noah Galvin) is gay.  

Yeah, I don't like "gay" being portrayed as a problem, either.  But I like Noah Galvin.

And the hunky dad is played by...Jay R. Ferguson!

Three questions:

1. What has he been doing in the years since Evening Shade?

2. Any nude photos?

3. Is he really gay?

1. What has he been doing?

Jay's first project after Evening Shade was Higher Learning (1995), which is not a teen sex comedy: Omar Epps (left) stars as a student experiencing racism at Columbia University.  But Jay did show us his butt (while sexing a girl).

And an under-the-covers erection, probably a prosthetic.

Next  Jay moved into teen horror (Campfire Tales, 1997),  sex comedy (Pink as the Day She Was Born, 1997), teen angst (Blue Ridge Falls, 1999), and dark secrets (The In Crowd, 2000), before finding his niche in television:

Glory Days (2001-02).  Oddly, it's not about soldiers, it stars Eddie Cahill as a writer who dished the dirt on residents of his home town, and is surprised when he returns to find that they don't like him.  Jay plays the sheriff.

Judging Amy (2003-4), which is not about a judge named Amy.  A woman has problems with her mother, husband, and child.  Jay plays a doctor.

In a 2005 episode of Medium, Allison realizes that her troubled half-brother Michael (Ryan Hurst) has a "secret."   One assumes that it's being gay, but it's actually that he shares her gift of seeing the future.  Jay plays his buddy.  That's as close to a gay character as he gets.

Surface (2005-2006):  Marine biologist Lake (Lake?): her "will they or won't they?" sparring partner, insurance salesman Rich (Jay), and a teenage boy (Carter Jenkins, left, recent photo) discover a "new and dangerous" species of marine life.  This one actually looks interesting.

By the way, Carter, who went on to star in Shadow Diaries, has a j/o video (after the break).