--- description: Luke Grimes was allegedly uncomfortable with gay sex scenes title: True Blood Actor Luke Grimes Allegedly Leaves Show Over Gay Plotline image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0870069caf61e96c/6986998ae53aba4df24d3598/187834429.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # _True Blood_ Actor Allegedly Left Over Show's Gay Plot Line  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Jun 27, 2014 12:08 AM CUT  Actor Luke Grimes arrives at GQ Celebrates The 2013 "Men Of The Year" at The Wilshire Ebell Theatre on November 12, 2013 in Los Angeles. Actor Luke Grimes arrives at GQ Celebrates The 2013 "Men Of The Year" at The Wilshire Ebell Theatre on November 12, 2013 in Los Angeles.Jon Kopaloff—FilmMagic/Getty Images  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Jun 27, 2014 12:08 AM CUT Luke Grimes, the actor who played James on _True Blood_, reportedly left the HBO show because he was [uncomfortable playing a gay character](http://www.buzzfeed.com/louispeitzman/luke-grimes-left-true-blood-because-he-refused-to-play-gay "undefined"). Grimes departed from the show in December for what HBO at the time called “creative differences.” But Buzzfeed, citing anonymous sources, reports that Grimes objected to a plot line in which he would become romantically involved with another male character on the show, short-order-cook-slash-medium Lafayette Reynolds. Grimes allegedly refused to do any same-sex kissing or sex scenes. Grimes’ publicist Craig Schneider has denied the allegations. “It had nothing to do with storylines,” he said. “Luke always had an out clause as a means of pursuing other opportunities which arose in the form of features beginning with _The Shangri-La Suite_, followed by _Fifty Shades of Grey_, and more recently Clint Eastwoods’ _American Sniper_ with Bradley Cooper.” The show recast the role with _Bunhead_‘s Nathan Parsons. The final season of the show premiered on June 22. \[[_Buzzfeed_](http://www.buzzfeed.com/louispeitzman/luke-grimes-left-true-blood-because-he-refused-to-play-gay "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2930840/true-blood-actor-allegedly-left-over-shows-gay-plot-line/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2930840/true-blood-actor-allegedly-left-over-shows-gay-plot-line/"},"headline":"True Blood Actor Allegedly Left Over Show's Gay Plot Line","datePublished":"2014-06-27T00:08:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:39:46.001Z","description":"Sources say Luke Grimes was uncomfortable with gay sex scenes","url":"https://time.com/2930840/true-blood-actor-allegedly-left-over-shows-gay-plot-line/","keywords":["Television","HBO","LGBT","True Blood"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0870069caf61e96c/6986998ae53aba4df24d3598/187834429.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0870069caf61e96c/6986998ae53aba4df24d3598/187834429.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"GQ Celebrates The 2013 \"Men Of The Year\"","caption":"GQ Celebrates The 2013 \"Men Of The Year\"","creditText":"Jon Kopaloff—FilmMagic/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2930840/true-blood-actor-allegedly-left-over-shows-gay-plot-line/","name":"True Blood Actor Allegedly Left Over Show's Gay Plot Line"}}]}] ```