Yellowstone Star Says He Was Blacklisted For Refusing Sex Scenes
Yellowstone star, Neal McDonough, revealed he was blacklisted for refusing to engage in kissing/sex scenes on camera.
The term ‘anything to get into Hollywood’ rings true with most actors, directors, and producers working in the entertainment industry. Except devote religious actor Neal McDonough – known for his roles in Desperate Housewives (2004-2012), Capitan America: The Winter Solider (2011), and Yellowstone (2012) as he refuses to perform any kissing or sex scenes. According to McDonough, “There was a time when I wasn’t working…I couldn’t get a job because people thought I was this crazy religious guy.”
According to Fox News, Yellowstone’s Neal McDonough was originally hired on to ABC’s one-season TV series, Scoundrels (2010). After only three days of filming, McDonough was let go for his refusal to perform any on-screen sex scenes. He added, “I won’t kiss any other woman because these lips are meant for one woman.” We certainly commend McDonough for wanting to stick by his wife, though it is a bit odd that producers and directors would not want to work with the celebrated actor because of his loyalty to his wife.
In several producers’ eyes, Yellowstone’s Neal McDonough was nothing but a crazy religious guy. However, this shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone, as that wasn’t the first time McDonough was vocal about his moral and religious boundaries. During his time playing Edie Britt’s (Nicolette Sheridan) husband on Desperate Housewives, he wouldn’t even kiss her on screen. Naturally, this created some writing challenges for Marc Cherry, the show’s creator. Neal McDonough defended his position by explaining that his lips are only meant for one woman, his wife since 2003, Ruve McDonough.
It is a respectable position to some and downright crazy to others. It’s solely up to the critics’ and producers’ interpretation. Unfortunately for Yellowstone’s Neal McDonough, from 2010 to 2012 he wasn’t working on any project because most of the industry wasn’t willing to work with him. It wasn’t until Band of Brothers (2001) star and screenwriter Graham Yost gave McDonough a phone call. As Neal McDonough describes it, he was sitting at his kitchen table with his wife and Yost offered a part-time gig as the villain in Justified (2012). After the initial shoot, Yost asked McDonough to be the villain for the whole season. This one phone call relaunched Neal McDonough’s career as the levelheaded, sometimes justified villain in various series and movies.
Yellowstone bringing Neal McDonough in as the villain in the series cemented his ability to find work regardless of his moral and religious standings. Today, McDonough stars as Nick Boon in the Neo-western action film, Boon. Boon is a direct sequel to Red Stone (2021) where McDonough flips the script to play a complicated hero trying to protect a widow and her son against truly evil criminals out for blood.
Yellowstone star Neal McDonough’s moral and religious standings pose an interesting question for anyone working in Hollywood and really any industry. How should one’s faith and belief system be factored into the job at hand? In McDonough’s case, he could consider it being unfaithful to his wife by even ‘fake’ kissing another woman on-screen but is it truly being unfaithful when it is literally an actor’s job to sometimes portray a couple in love?
What would have happened in Yellowstone’s Neal McDonough’s case had he not been able to play to the incredible and complicated villain? What kind of Neal McDonough movies and TV series would we have seen if he had not taken that stand? One can only wonder.
