{"id":32552,"date":"2019-05-10T03:43:35","date_gmt":"2019-05-10T10:43:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=32552"},"modified":"2019-05-09T14:02:43","modified_gmt":"2019-05-09T21:02:43","slug":"disneys-first-coming-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2019\/05\/10\/disneys-first-coming-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Disney\u2019s first coming out"},"content":{"rendered":"

The cast of the Disney Channel\u2019s Andi Mack<\/em> included, left to right: Asher Angel as Jonah Beck, Peyton Elizabeth Lee as Andi Mack, Joshua Rush as Cyrus Goodman and Sofia Wylie as Buffy Driscoll. (photo by Disney Channel\/Mitch Haaseth)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Before it was canceled two weeks ago, after three seasons, the Disney Channel\u2019s Andi Mack<\/em> covered new ground. The tween coming-of-age show not only had a Jewish character, Cyrus Goodman, but he was the first openly gay character on the channel. The coming-out storyline, which aired earlier this year, received high praise for the way it was handled. The show\u2019s inclusivity is one reason fans are still fighting \u2013 via social media \u2013 to keep the show on the air. New episodes will run through the end of summer.<\/p>\n

Joshua Rush, who played Cyrus, is Jewish himself. On the ABC TV show Good Morning America<\/em>, Rush, who is 17, said that the response was overwhelmingly positive. \u201cI\u2019ve really gotten to see the myriad ways that both this new coming-out scene for Cyrus, and this Jewish representation of his family, has affected the fans,\u201d Rush said.<\/p>\n

The scene in which Cyrus comes out to his friends is set in front of a buffet spread of traditional Jewish food at his grandmother Bubbe Rose\u2019s shivah. While explaining the foods, such as kugel, classic bagels and lox and gefilte fish, he blurts out that he is gay. The episode, called \u201cOnce in a Minyan,\u201d was written by Jonathan Hurwitz, whose credits include The Daily Show<\/em>. Hurwitz shared in a guest post for GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) that he was driven from personal experience to write this episode as \u201csomeone who\u2019s Jewish, has dealt with long-term anxiety and has come out to his friends and family.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Joshua Rush played the first openly gay character on the Disney Channel: Cyrus Goodman on the show Andi Mack. (photo by Disney Channel\/Mitch Haaseth)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cyrus\u2019s Judaism allowed the writers and show\u2019s creative team to incorporate Jewish traditions and rituals. In one episode, Cyrus has a bar mitzvah \u2013 and, in it, Rush recites the same Torah portion from his own bar mitzvah. Another example is the shivah scene, where the writers included Jewish bereavement rituals like covering mirrors and the recitation of the Mourner\u2019s Kaddish; there is also a yahrzeit candle on display.<\/p>\n

Prior to the announcement of the show\u2019s cancelation, the Jewish Independent <\/em>spoke with Rush, who was born in Houston, Tex., but now resides in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

JI<\/strong>: Did you have any input in the character being Jewish?<\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: Our show\u2019s creator, Terri Minsky, is Jewish, and so am I. From the beginning, there had been discussions of the character being Jewish, but actually acting on it in the context of the bar mitzvah and shivah episodes came later, after the character was more fleshed out. The storylines themselves were all Terri\u2019s though.<\/p>\n

JI<\/strong>: Did you suggest the bar mitzvah storyline, since you had recently had one?<\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: After learning of the character\u2019s Judaism and being more comfortable with Terri and the writing staff, I was immediately very excited at the idea of giving Cyrus a bar mitzvah. I loved mine but, because I celebrated mine in Israel, I didn\u2019t get all the accoutrements of an American bar mitzvah, so I really enjoyed the massive party we had for the \u201cbash mitzvah\u201d!<\/p>\n

JI<\/strong>: What kind of feedback have you gotten from family, friends and fans about your character being gay? Being Jewish?<\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. I think, a lot of the time, the media, and especially kids shows, display Jewish characters in side plots. See Chanukah being \u201cJewish Christmas,\u201d Pesach being \u201cJewish Easter,\u201d etc. With this great representation of the religion in the cast and writer\u2019s room, we were able to show a Jewish character who is a main character, who has his own life, his own story, and being Jewish is just a part of that. Not being the butt of jokes as a result of his faith has given me a lot pride.<\/p>\n

JI<\/strong>: What messages do you hope viewers will get from your storylines?<\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: I think something that\u2019s really special about Cyrus is that he knows that he doesn\u2019t know everything about the world and about himself. But he\u2019s never afraid to ask the tough questions about who he might be and what that means for his life. That\u2019s an incredibly honourable thing, and I think we can all learn from that.<\/p>\n

JI<\/strong>: On a personal note, does your family celebrate Jewish holidays?<\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: We celebrate most holidays and being Jewish is a big part of our household. The show was very flexible with allowing us to celebrate Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, and we even cooked traditional Jewish foods for Chanukah every winter, much to the delight of the crew. (My dad makes the best matzah balls on planet earth!)<\/p>\n

Alice Burdick Schweiger<\/strong> is a New York City-based freelance writer who has written for many national magazines, including <\/em>Good Housekeeping, <\/em>Family Circle, <\/em>Woman\u2019s Day and <\/em>The Grand Magazine. She specializes in writing about Broadway, entertainment, travel and health, and covers Broadway for the Jewish News. She is co-author of the 2004 book <\/em>Secrets of the Sexually Satisfied Woman, with Jennifer Berman and Laura Berman.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The cast of the Disney Channel\u2019s Andi Mack included, left to right: Asher Angel as Jonah Beck, Peyton Elizabeth Lee as Andi Mack, Joshua Rush as Cyrus Goodman and Sofia Wylie as Buffy Driscoll. (photo by Disney Channel\/Mitch Haaseth) Before it was canceled two weeks ago, after three seasons, the Disney Channel\u2019s Andi Mack covered […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32553,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[787],"tags":[8986,6109,2777,8987,7066],"class_list":["post-32552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv-film","tag-andi-mack","tag-disney","tag-inclusion","tag-joshua-rush","tag-television"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}