The Degrassi Scene That Was Cut Because An Actor Hated It So Much
TV shows based around the lives of high schoolers aren't always accurate. Most Disney Channel shows feature their stars doing wild and zany things the average teenager probably wouldn't. Shows like "Hannah Montana," "Wizards of Waverly Place," and "Dog With a Blog" are a big testament to this, but you don't necessarily watch a Disney Channel show for realism. You come to laugh and be entertained — and they deliver in that department.
However, for some other shows, that's not necessarily the case, as most high school dramas try to be both entertaining and real. Whether or not they are successful at this is up for debate. For example, "Euphoria" has been questioned on how realistic it is (per Vice), and "Riverdale" has been condemned for hard to believe storylines (per Fansided). Nonetheless, it's admirable of these shows to take on such heavy subject matter and unapologetically represent it on screen for those who do relate.
But sometimes the handling of this subject matter doesn't always go over so well, even with the actors portraying the story, and for one "Degrassi: Next Class” cast member, that's exactly what happened.
Lyle Lettau highlighted an issue with labeling
Actor Lyle Lettau, who portrays Tristan Milligan in "Degrassi: Next Class," had such an issue with the handling of labeling in a scene that it was cut entirely from the episode. The cut scene was reportedly supposed to occur in Season 4, Episode 3, "#ILookLikeA," as revealed by Lettau in a video interview posted on the "Degrassi" Facebook page.
During the conversation, Lettau elaborated on what exactly bothered him about the scene. He explains how, in the scene, his character Tristan is angry with another character, Miles (Eric Osborne), for not wanting to be labeled as "the gay writer." Lettau's issue with the scene was that he feels that people have the right to not want to be labeled, and his character should not be angry at someone for that. Lettau commented, "If he doesn't want to be categorized as something, that's like anyone who doesn't want to be called a 'him' or a 'she.'" He then added, "You should be able to make your own decision on that and not have someone like, mad at you for it."
This then opened the conversation in the video to the topic of both sexual and gender identity, as well as labeling. The interviewer, Adamo Ruggiero, who played Marco Del Rossi in "Degrassi: The Next Generation," explains how liberating it can be to not have to define yourself. He then says, "I think that's what's great about Miles. He was never asked to define it, and now suddenly he has to define it for like paperwork." Lettau agreed with Ruggiero about the labeling and how it would've ultimately taken away from the character, had the scene in question been included.