JK, Bill Hader isn’t actually retiring his ‘SNL’ character Stefon

Hader previously expressed concern about the character being seen as a gay stereotype.

In a new interview, Bill Hader walked back previous comments he made about retiring his fan-favorite Saturday Night Live character Stefon. Last year, he revealed that SNL “floated” the idea of bringing back his no-holds-barred gay New York nightclub guide, but he turned it down due to the political climate at the time.

“I was like, ‘I don’t think that’s really a good thing to do now,'” Hader told The Guardian last April. “I mean, we had an openly racist, homophobic and misogynistic president, and half the country voted for him — twice! So [those attitudes] are really prevalent.” He added, “I really love Stefon and it never occurred to me that he would be seen as a stereotype, and that really hurt.”

After some reflection, though, Hader seems to have changed his mind. “Honestly, I don’t know why I said that,” he told The Independent recently. “I probably would play him. I think just being asked the question at that point in time kind of made me anxious.”

Hader went on to note that gay men have approached him and told him he was wrong to think that way. “I’ve never had any gay man come up to me and be offended that I [played Stefon],” he said, also referencing the gay character he played in the 2014 indie film The Skeleton Twins. “I’ve always had people come up and say how much they love those roles.”

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