by Allison Waldman
Late last week, actor Chris Engen reportedly bolted from The Young & the Restless, walking out on a front-burner story line on the number one rated daytime drama because he objected to his character sharing a kiss with another man. This week, Y&R’s former Adam Wilson issued a statement online to tell his side of the story.

Engen wasn’t unhappy with the gay twist, declared that he is not homophobic and said he didn’t quit the show over religious objections. According to the first-time soap actor, “I felt generally unhappy about my contribution to the show, and had greater and greater difficulty making any sense of the challenges they were asking me to face.”

Exactly what were the challenges that Engen faced, you might ask? Well, as Adam, Chris was front and center in the Victor/Ashley pregnancy story. After getting released early from prison and placed under house arrest — with an ankle monitor just like Bernie Madoff had — Adam has been plotting to undermine Victor and Ashley’s romance and, perhaps, cause her to lose the baby she’s carrying. He’s also been faking a disease that brings on blindness, retinitis pigmentosa, which his late mother had been inflicted, by injecting Botox into his eyeballs.

Now, as a soap watcher, I have to tell you that actors would kill for that kind of work. Playing a villain is generally considered a plum role and a chance to really shine. Apparently, in the weeks ahead, as part of his evil-doing, Adam was going to feign a romantic interest with his parole officer, Rafe, in order to get him to work in Adam’s favor. That meant kissing Rafe.

Still, Engen said in his statement that before the gay kiss came up, he wasn’t happy with the direction of the character. He said he was allowed only a single meeting with head writer Maria Bell. “In the end, I didn’t feel that decisions were being made in my best interests, personally or professionally. I asked to be removed from my duties,” Engen asserted.

It would seem that the last part of that statement is true. Y&R recast the role immediately with Michael Muhney, of Veronica Mars fame, will take over the role of Adam Wilson. His first air date is June 25.

Engen’s decision may not hurt his future prospects in film and TV roles, but don’t expect another soap to hire him any time soon. Walking out in the middle of a hot story is generally considered career suicide in daytime. You don’t do that to your show or to the fans who have invested in your story line. As for the gay angle, it sounds like a great development. Adam is evil incarnate. Why wouldn’t he use Rafe to get what he wanted, even if that means faking an attraction to the guy? You must remember this, a kiss is just a kiss…
source:http://www.tvsquad.com/2009/05/29/the-young-and-the-restless-actor-claims-he-didnt-quit-over-gay-ki/
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