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"Neighbours star James Mason has revealed that he is happy playing a gay character. The Australian actor, who portrays Chris Pappas in the soap, said that he saw &amp;quot;potential&amp;quot; in the character from the moment he got the part. Mason told The Daily Telegraph: &amp;quot;I really liked the character from the beginning and could see there was huge potential for him. I have a friend who went through what Chris did when he came out, so it&amp;#039;s really important to me that there is realism to the stories.  &amp;quot;The good thing about Chris is that he is an ordinary person who is a mechanic and happens to be gay.&amp;quot; In a recent storyline, Chris was threatened by homophobic Warren Burrell and then beaten up. Mason said of the incident: &amp;quot;Chris is embarrassed that he thinks he was gay bashed and he doesn&amp;#039;t want to tell anyone. He is trying to build a relationship [with his father] but this incident happening, if it revolves around him being gay, just causes more chaos around the fact that he is gay. &amp;quot;He wants to forget about it. He tells everyone he&amp;#039;s fine and that it&amp;#039;s not a big deal. Once Chris is in hospital [however, dad] George shows his support and his love. It makes Chris realise that no matter who he is, the people that love him will be there no matter what.&amp;quot; Neighbours boss Susan Bower previously said that she expected the show&amp;#039;s first regular male gay character to cause controversy among viewers, saying: &amp;quot;I do believe homophobia is alive and well, and I have no doubt that we will get complaints about it.&amp;quot;  However, there have been few complaints since Mason started on the show last year. &amp;gt; Read Digital Spy&amp;#039;s recent interview with &amp;#039;Neighbours&amp;#039; star James Mason &amp;gt; Read more Neighbours spoilers and news "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/neighbours/news/a354736/neighbours-star-james-mason-doesnt-mind-playing-gay-character/>