Setoodeh, who argued that openly gay actors are difficult to believe in straight roles and who pointed to Promises, Promises star Sean Hayes, “Glee” guest star Jonathan Groff, and other openly gay Broadway and Hollywood actors as examples, will start working at People the second week in July. He will be a senior writer on the magazine’s news and human-interest staff.

Setoodeh’s article sparked responses from Hayes’ co-star, Kristin Chenoweth, who called the article “horrendously homophobic” and asked for a retraction; and from “Glee” co-creator Ryan Murphy, who called for a boycott of the magazine and asked Setoodeh to visit the set over the summer and observe the production process.

Murphy told USA Today in May that a meeting with Setoodeh would likely happen in July; Setoodeh has not publicly commented on the possibility, although he did defend himself on Newsweek’s website, saying he meant only to start a debate and not become the focus of so much anger.

People editor Larry Hackett told the Observer, "At the end of the day, I've been doing this job long enough to know that you judge people on the bulk of their work, the totality of their work. He's a dynamic guy, I think he's going to be terrific for the staff.”

— Thomas Peter