Patrick Stewart’s brilliant response to being mistakenly outed as gay

The Guardian mistakenly outed actor Patrick Stewart after he posted a tweet congratulating Ellen Page for coming out at the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) in Las Vegas.

“@EllenPage thank you @HRC for all the love and support. X and I’ll chime in with mine,” Stewart wrote, referring to Professor Xavier, his X-Men character.

The Guardian misinterpreted the tweet and in an article about Page’s coming out wrote, “Some gay people, such as Sir Patrick Stewart, think Page’s coming out speech is newsworthy because a high-profile and surprisingly politically aware young actress has decided not to play by the rules that so many closeted Hollywood actors are advised to follow if they are to enjoy mainstream success.”

Stewart handled the blunder perfectly, jokingly tweeting, “@guardian I have, like, five or even SEVEN hetero friends and we totally drink beer and eat lots of chicken wings!”

Followed by, “Well, @guardian it makes for a nice change . . . at least I didn’t wake up to the internet telling me I was dead again.”

Long live Professor X!

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