Neal McDonough Says Hollywood Blacklisted Him Because 'I Wouldn't Kiss Another Woman' Besides His Wife

Dominik Bindl. Getty Images.

Neal McDonough might be one of the perfect examples of that actor that every single one of us has seen in something, but still struggle to come up with his name. Which I think is a testament to his talent. You tend to identify him as the characters he's played, not by his real life celebrity self.

To me for the longest time, he was Buck Compton from Band of Brothers. Not only because that's the greatest single season of any show in TV history. But because his character arc was so compelling. From newly assigned to Easy Company, to being reprimanded by Dick Winters for gambling with the men under his command, to solid leader respected by all, to reaching the his mental and emotional breaking point under the intense shelling in the siege of Bastogne:

He's that guy who can play a real life badass like Compton and make your heart break for him. Then play a cartoonishly fun soldier in a movie like Captain America: First Avenger. Then pivot to the Big Bad he played in a season of Justified, where he was a stylish, buttoned up, ultra formal professional trying to negotiate business deals on behalf of the mob. When he wasn't going into the back bedroom to torture male prostitutes to death. Plus he's worked for Taylor Sheridan in Yellowstone and Tulsa King. And lately, he's been part of the genre of Christian cinema, starring in faith-based films like the Left Behind series. That's a range few actors can claim. 

And yet my favorite work of his is still this Cadillac commercial where he dunks on the entire world outside of the US of A, for not working as hard as we do:

 "Were we nuts when we pointed to the moon? That's right. We went up there. And you know what we got? Bored. So we left. We got a car up there and left the keys in it. You know why? Because we're the only ones going back up there, that's why" is an all time line in advertising history. Don Draper himself couldn't come up with gold like that.

And yet for all that, McDonough says now he was ostracized by the film industry for the most inane reason of all time:

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… couldn’t do it, and they couldn’t understand it, Hollywood just completely turned on me. They wouldn’t let me be part of the show anymore. For two years, I couldn’t get a job and I lost everything you could possibly imagine. Not just houses and material things, but your swagger, your cool, who you are, your identity—everything. My identity was an actor, and a really good one. And once you don’t have that identity, you’re kind of lost in a tailspin.” 

Let's review. You can question how a guy's moral code allows him to pretend to sadistically torture male prostitutes as a twisted way to deal with his own repressed sexuality, but can't kiss an actress he's not married to. And you'd have a good point. There's no one with a spouse in Community Theater who hasn't had to watch their significant other lock lips with some neighbor playing Captain Von Trapp or Hello, Dolly or whomever. Why just last year I went to see two of my buddies' kids star as the romantic leads in a teen production of Legally Blonde, and they had make out in front of an audience of strangers and two mortified dads. So you can legitimately question why a guy who's made millions pretending to be other people can't just take one for the team and fake kiss some presumably attractive actress. Especially since his wife understands it just comes with the job. 

But much weirder still is that for this, he got canceled. I mean, he can't play a soldier or an evil, mobbed up businessman because he won't get to first base in front of the cameras with anyone but Mrs. McDonough? They can't avoid writing a make out scene, just to get his services? Bring in a stunt kisser? Or do a CGI version of him like they did Princess Leia after Carrie Fisher died? 

I thought one of the great tenets of Hollywood is that blacklisting is bad. In fact, the biggest boogeyman in the history of the entertainment industry is Joe McCarthy for pressuring the studios to do exactly that. But at least when Ol' Tailgunner Joe was going after the Commies, the Red Menace was real. The Bolsheviks were sneaking their Fellow Travelers in to infiltrate the industry and turn American's into a rabble of Marxist pinkos. But here we are 70 something years later and they'll ban a perfectly capable actor for the crime of not wanting to mack on anyone but his wife. Strange days, indeed. Most peculiar mama. Roll. 

At least McDonough stuck it out and seemingly has his career back. According to the article linked in that X post, he's got more projects coming. Undoubtedly without mild sex scenes. Just good, wholesome, sadistic torture that won't throw anyone's moral compass off of pointing to true north. So welcome back, Buck. You've been missed.