U.K.’s i news, revealing that he faced harassment and discrimination as a gay man in the field.“Like most LGBT+ people, I’ve been called names all my life,” O’Neill said. “I’ve been advised by people in my industry to ‘play down’ my sexuality — and I have done.”He recalled how the homophobia impacted his career, saying, “Once, I was in a meeting at a production company in London to pitch ideas for a new program.
I guess I was getting excited about an idea and talking about it in an excitable way. I found out afterwards that one of the leaders of the meeting said: ‘He’s gayer than we expected.’ I never got a call from them again.” O’Neill said that experience was a “huge blow,” and caused him to worry about how being out could limit his.