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Ray Cunningham Gets Real...Some More

The first gay reality star in BET's history chats with John Griffiths about his new gig getting straight boys to open up in Fox Reality's Nightclub Confessions
An Advocate.com exclusive posted November 19, 2007
Ray Cunningham Gets Real...Some More

Miles Ray Cunningham -- you can call him Ray -- has always been thirsty for attention. As a little prankster in Richmond, Virginia, he recalls, "I once snuck a beer from my dad and took a picture of myself with the bottle in my hand." He also irked teachers by, um, pretending to fall out of his chair. "My parents’ phone numbers were on speed dial at Southhampton Elementary School," he says with a downright infectious giggle. "I was a BAD kid. I just wanted to be the center of attention. Eyes on me!"

Thanks to his stint last year as one of the eight studious (if boozy and/or snarky) roomies on the third season of College Hill -- BET’s spin on down-and-flirty reality shows like The Real World -- Cunningham can now, at 24, claim title to being the channel’s first-ever admittedly gay personality (catch his momentous coming out and more in HILL’s latest DVD release).

He has since parlayed his B.A. in mass communications from Virginia State into a gig as one of folks who ask club-hoppers naughty questions on Fox Reality's Nightclub Confession (a show where straight drunk guys are known to sometimes wax surprisingly homoerotic). What else is there to note about this peppy hopeful thespian—other than the fact that he can enjoy a cocktail during an interview? Cunningham opens up during a chat from his two-bedroom “luxury” apartment in L.A.

When did you first get an inkling you were gay?
When I was a kid, I used to draw Gem and the Hollograms. And the only music video I liked to like was En Vogue’s "Giving Him Something He Can Feel."

What’s it like being a reality star?
The good is that people like you for you. The downside is that if you want to be a comedian or an actor, people say, "Oh, he has no talent. He just got on TV because he had some deep, dark secret he told in his audition."

What was your deep-dark secret?
When I tried out to be on College Hill, I never intended to be the "Gay Guy." I did not want to come out on national TV. But that’s what happened. My heart dropped when I saw myself finally say it. I was at a premiere-night party, and my phone lit up instantly. It was like, 'Oh, my God!!"

Any fall-out?
My family was mad that they officially found out that way. My daddy (also named Ray, an Amtrak conductor) took it hard at first. He wasn't upset that I was gay; he just was hurt that I didn't come talk to him about it. But now I have the most supportive daddy that a gay guy could ever have.

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Photo by Stephen Herbert

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