Six Degrees of Separation: Lucas Cruikshank to John Cena

1. You remember Lucas Cruikshank: he tore up the internet with his webseries Fred, about an oddball teenager, which spun off into three movies and two Nickelodoen tv series -- Fred (2008-2010) and Marvin Marvin (2012-2013). Cruikshank announced that he was gay -- after his tenure on Nickelodeon ended.

2. The Fred movies and tv series starred Jake Weary (left) as Kevin, first a bully, then a grudging ally who seemed to actually like Fred, adding another layer of gay subtext.

Jake Weary got his start playing Luke Snyder on the soap As the World Turns (2005).  

3. When Jake left As the World Turns, the character of Luke Snyder was taken over by Van Hansis (2005-2010).  In the spring of 2006, Luke comes out as gay.

His wealthy father rejects him, but they reconcile when his mother goes into a coma; he is the victim of an attempted murder (not a hate crime) and paralyzed for awhile; his boyfriend is kidnapped and blinded; he falls in love with the doctor who is working to restore his sight.

Standard soap opera stuff.

4. Luke's boyfriend, Noah (2007-2010), was played by Jake Silbermann, whose major credits have been on stage: Dracula, The Assembled Parties, and 3C (2012).  

The latter is a revision of the classic sitcom Three's Company:  Brad (Jake), the John Ritter character, must pretend to be gay so the conservative landlord will allow him to share an apartment with two girls.  The twist: he really is gay, and in love with his neighbor Teddy (Eddie Cahill).

5. Eddie Cahill's first screen appearance was on Sex in the City (2000) as a bisexual guy who dates Carrie. Since then he has starred in Glory Days, Miracle, Lords of Dogtown, and CSI. He is a big hockey fan, and wrote a NHL celebrity blog for three seasons.

6. One of the celebrities he interviewed was wrestler John Cena, who is a gay ally.  When Darren Young came out as the first openly gay WWE wrestler, he said: "Darren's a great guy..,congratulations to him for actually, finally doing it."

John Cena appeared in the Fred movies as Fred's fantasy Dad.  So we're back to Lucas Cruikshank.