Jonathan Bennett on Being the "Gay King of Christmas," LGBTQ+ Visibility on Hallmark & More | THR News Video - video Dailymotion

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Jonathan Bennett is making the holidays a whole lot hotter! Dubbing himself the "Gay King of Christmas," the 'Mean Girls' star has made a mark on the festive season by commandeering Hallmark Channel through past projects like The Christmas House franchise, executive producing and starring in 'The Holiday Sitter,' Hallmark's first Christmas romantic comedy that focuses on a queer couple and so much more. Bennett sat down with The Hollywood Reporter about his acclaimed work within the network for the holidays, bringing LGBTQ+ visibility to the forefront of television.

Transcript

00:00It's time to make sure that we're telling stories for everyone because Christmas is for everyone.

00:06Jonathan Bennett is making the holidays a whole lot hotter.

00:10Dubbing himself the gay king of Christmas, the Mean Girls star has made a mark on the festive season

00:15by commandeering Hallmark Channel through past projects like the Christmas House franchise,

00:20executive producing and starring in The Holiday Sitter, Hallmark's first Christmas romantic comedy

00:25that focuses on a queer couple and so much more.

00:28Bennett sat down with The Hollywood Reporter about his acclaimed work within the network for the holidays,

00:33bringing LGBTQ plus visibility to the forefront of television and so much more.

00:37I reinvented the holidays at Hallmark as well, so it's kind of like we both won.

00:43The actor is currently gearing up for his next big collaboration with Hallmark, Finding Mr. Christmas.

00:48Bennett is helping Hallmark find their next leading man, hosting the reality competition series

00:53where 10 guys will compete in a series of challenges, testing their acting skills and festive spirit.

00:59The winner will land a leading role in an upcoming Hallmark Channel holiday movie

01:03and earn the title of Mr. Christmas.

01:05It is the first ever unscripted reality competition series for Hallmark.

01:10We dissected Hallmark Christmas movies and we said,

01:14What are the tropes that make a Hallmark Christmas movie?

01:19Well, you have the meat cue.

01:21You have the ice skating scene.

01:23You have the apology.

01:26You have a kiss under a mistletoe.

01:27You have all these different things.

01:30We took all those tropes and made a challenge and figured out a way to gamify each of those tropes

01:37and put them through the challenges.

01:38As for the criteria to be a Christmas hunk.

01:41Well, they've got to have a good sense of humor.

01:42They've got to be witty.

01:44They've got to be funny.

01:45They've got to have a kindness about them that's genuine.

01:50And of course, they've got to look good in a Christmas sweater.

01:53With Hallmark being known for their holiday tropes,

01:55Bennett also shared his favorite Christmas tropes.

01:58Bring your partner home for the holidays to your eccentric family, for sure.

02:02There's no family that isn't dysfunctional.

02:04Every family is dysfunctional in some level.

02:06That's what families are.

02:07Families are messy.

02:08While it seems like Bennett was born to share his festive spirit,

02:11the actor said that it wasn't always the case.

02:14Being a gay kid in Ohio, it was a, the holidays, going home for the holidays after like living in

02:21the big city and like, I moved to New York and like, was able to like be my full self.

02:27And then like, I would go home for the holidays and still wasn't like completely out with like

02:32everyone in the town.

02:33Like it was, it was all, everything was like, the holidays always can be crunchy for a lot of

02:37people, right?

02:37There's a lot of different reasons why the holidays can be crunchy sometimes.

02:40That's why the actor who received back-to-back Glad Media Award nominations for his prior holiday

02:46films for the network made it his mission to bring more representation to the screen.

02:50There's nothing more powerful than seeing your life reflected in a scene in a movie.

02:59I had played a whole bunch of characters on Hallmark that were straight, which was wonderful.

03:04But there came a time where it was like, it's time to make sure that we're telling stories

03:09for everyone because Christmas is for everyone.

03:13Elsewhere, the actor touched on another holiday, one he may be most known for, October 3rd.

03:18No matter where you go, there will always be a person at a Starbucks that will write your

03:26name on the cup, Erin Samuels, 100%.

03:29No matter what city you're in, what town, when you tell them your name, they're like, uh-huh.

03:33And they write Erin Samuels on the cup.

03:35I'm paying attention to Mean Girls less this year on October 3rd, but I'm still paying attention

03:39to October 3rd, just in a different way.

03:41But Mean Girls is the reason that I'm able to do that.

03:44So it's almost like a passing of a baton or like a salute, you know what I mean?

03:50It's like, there's still the respect there and the love for the movie and the love for

03:54the fans and the love for what it gave me as a career.

03:5710 years out of your high school reunion, you still talk about high school.

04:0120-year high school reunion, you're not talking about what happened in high school as much

04:05because other exciting things have happened to your life.

04:07Finding Mr. Christmas premieres October 31st on Hallmark+.

04:11For the latest entertainment news and updates, keep watching The Hollywood Reporter News.

Jonathan Bennett on Being the "Gay King of Christmas," LGBTQ+ Visibility on Hallmark & More | THR News Video

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