Colman Domingo has shut down homophobic criticism after starring in Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Tears’ music video in drag.
- READ MORE: Colman Domingo nearly quit acting – a decade later and he’s an Oscars stalwart
Pop singer Carpenter released her seventh studio album ‘Man’s Best Friend‘ last week (August 29), with the Rocky Horror-inspired visual for ‘Tears’ following suit, seeing the singer dial up her disdain for useless men, with the help of Euphoria star Domingo.
In the Bardia Zeinali-directed video, Carpenter finds herself in the middle of the woods after a car crash and is met with Domingo, in Dr. Frank-N-Furter-esque drag. Much like Susan Sarandon’s Janet, her outfit quickly turns into lingerie, and Carpenter spins on a pole in a corn field, has a glittery dance break with Domingo and a host of LGBTQ+ performers.
On Saturday (August 30), the Sing Sing actor replied to an X/Twitter user who’d criticised his appearance in the video, writing: “Guess he was too manly even for a gay man. Had to put him in drag in Sabrina Carpenter’s video huh? Bullshit!”
Fans leapt to his defence, with the actor himself responding to the homophobic rant. “It’s a character. Like all the characters I play. Calm down brother,” he wrote. “Enjoy the video and the fun that it possesses. Dance it out! It ain’t that deep.”
He went on to quote a lyric from RuPaul’s 2014 track ‘Born Naked’, writing: “We are born naked and everything else is drag. Suits, t shirts, dresses. All drag. 😂👍🏾🙏🏽”
The actor spoke to NME earlier this year about his back to back Oscar nominations, first in 2024 for his empathetic performance in Rustin, a biopic of queer civil rights activist Bayard Rustin.
“That sort of catapulted me to leading man status,” Domingo told us. He also became, after Ian McKellen in 1998’s Gods And Monsters, only the second out gay man to be nominated for playing a gay character.
It’s a character. Like all the characters I play. Calm down brother. Enjoy the video and the fun that it possesses. Dance it out! It ain’t that deep. “We are born naked and everything else is drag” Suits, t shirts, dresses. All drag. 😂👍🏾🙏🏽
— Colman Domingo (@colmandomingo) August 30, 2025
Earlier this year, he was once again up for Best Actor for his part in Sing Sing, a prison drama he helped to shape. “From start to finish, I got to put my fingerprints on every frame,” said.
As far as future projects, he said: “Everything I have, it’s because I haven’t put any limitations on myself,” he says. “I didn’t know where this career would go, to be honest, but I’m really happy with where it is.”
The actor is set to mark his directorial debut with the upcoming Sydney Sweeney-led Kim Novak biopic, which charts her relationship with Sammy Davis Jr. Yesterday (September 1), the actor said apprehensions the film would sexualise their affair.
Speaking about the film last year, Domingo told Deadline he hopes to start production on the project after he and Sweeney wrap the long-gestating third season of Euphoria.
“Hopefully we’ll make a beautiful, sweet film that’s really about the possibility of love, but under many eyes, trying to have privacy, trying to have love, trying to have a life,” he said. “And I think it’s something that Sydney and I both know very well. We’re trying to advocate for your humanity again in your life.”
