The Gay Sex Scene in 'American Gods' Isn't Pornographic, It's Art

The small-screen adaptation of Neil Gaiman's award-winning novel American Gods is making quite the splash. Eclectic and fresh, the show is creating so much social media buzz that Starz has already confirmed a second season only two episodes into its run.

The show begins on the brink of a war; mythological gods are becoming more and more angry with losing their followers to society's obsession with the internet, media, celebrities, drugs, etc. Mr. Wednesday (Ian McShane), a con man and ancient deity, enlists the help of ex-con Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle) to become his bodyguard on a cross-country road trip to assemble more traditional gods and prepare for battle. 

On Wednesday, PRIDE attended a screening of the third episode of American Gods, which will air Sunday. The controversial episode is making headlines before its premiere because of a sex scene featuring two of its male characters. The Independent even called it the "most pornographic gay sex scene ever." 

The episode introduces Mousa Kraish as The Jinn and Omid Abtahi as Salim, two Middle Eastern immigrants who meet in a cab. When Salim touches The Jinn's shoulder in conversation, the magnitude of their connection rushes over you like a sandstorm. Without spoiling too much, the electricity and tenderness of the moment is otherworldly to watch, and the transcendent imagery evoked makes the men's passion ethereal and fiery. Showrunner Michael Green (Logan, Green Lantern) underscored the scene's beauty.

"I saw it as a story of a god giving a man permission to be himself, to enjoy sex, and to be made love to," he said.

The stars of the show didn't appreciate the porn insinuation. Mousa Kraish, who plays the Jinn, told PRIDE, "Calling it pornographic is belittling and making it smaller that what is it. It's not about 'Wow, I'm just watching two men fuck.' It's 'Wow, these are two compassionate people, clearly in love with one another.'"

"Just seeing two Middle Eastern men represented in that way, with humor and love and joy, it's taken me 11 years to get to that. I want to see more of that," said Kraish. Novelist Gaiman added, "It's one of the most beautiful sequences I've ever seen on television, and I'm so proud to be involved in it."

The scene and storyline were understandably questioned by the screening audience, as only one person on the panel, showrunner and executive producer Bryan Fuller (Hannibal, Pushing Daisies), is gay. Neil Gaiman and the two actors in the scene are heterosexual.

Gaiman was inspired to create the characters by the homoeroticism in The Arabian Nights and by a New York City cab driver who fell asleep at the wheel. When shaken awake, the cabbie blushed and said, "Sorry, I've been driving for 30 hours." These experiences helped inform his story about two gay immigrant Middle Eastern men. He told the audience he was nervous about publishing the book in 2001 and perhaps just as nervous about watching the story on television now.

"Can I write a gay love story?" Gaiman asked. "I don't know. I grew up loving Edmund White and Armistead Maupin. I've read some fantastic gay writers."

It seems like Gaiman, the showrunners, and the actors pulled it off. The scene met mostly affirming reviews from the critical audience and is sure to make a splash on social media once it airs Sunday.

American Gods is a show to look out for in terms of queer representation. Along with the Jinn and Salim, the show features a character named Bilquis, played by Yetide Badaki, who is a pansexual goddess who literally eats people with her vagina. Gaiman also shared that the second season will introduce a lesbian character named Sam Black Crow. "She knows she's queer, she thinks she's bi, but she likes girls," he said.

The diversity among American Gods is refreshing, to say the least, and the storyline involving two gay Muslim immigrants feels more relevant than ever in today's political climate. How was Gaiman's novel able to hold up so well over the past 16 years?

"I didn't regard the things I was writing as contentious," he explained. "It's a book about immigrants, about all sorts of cultures, all sorts of people. Obviously, there will be LGBTQ characters in here because there are LGBTQ characters in life and in my family and amongst my friends. I'm going to put those stories in here. I'm going to put stories in all cultures that I can because this is part of America."

American Godsairs Sundays at 9 p.m. Eastern/Pacific on Starz.