Jane Lynch Says She’s ‘Not Part of’ a Hollywood Gay Mafia, but Jokes Jennifer Coolidge Is ‘Probably the Queen’

Jane Lynch was delighted to pay tribute to longtime friend and former screen actress Jennifer Coolidge.

Lynch, 63, joked with PEOPLE at Saturday’s Virtuosos Awards at the Santa Barbara Film Festival that she personally is “not part” of any “gay mob” in Hollywood.

“They wouldn’t let me in, OK,” she joked. “But I think Jennifer is, if there’s a gay mob. Even though she’s not gay, she’s in it and she’s probably the queen.”

“Queen? Yes. She’s the queen of the gay mob, not a drag queen. Just a queen,” Lynch added.

Jennifer Coolidge jokes about being ‘surrounded by gays’ before accepting Jane Lynch’s GLAAD Award

Jane Lynch speaks at the Virtuosos Awards in February 2024.

Tibrina Hobson/Getty

Lynch’s comments come just a month after Coolidge — who played her love interest in the 2000s Best in Show — thanked “all the evil homosexuals” as a sign for her White lotus character Tanya McQuoid during her acceptance speech for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.

Last March, Lynch also presented the 62-year-old star with GLAAD’s special recognition at the 34th annual GLAAD Media Awards.

After joking that she was “surrounded by gays” at the show’s opening, Lynch celebrated Coolidge for being “pro-gay before it was cool to be pro-gay.”

Lynch continued, “She’s one of us, ladies and gentlemen, and I’ve always said the world needs to catch up with Jennifer Coolidge. And the world has caught up with Jennifer Coolidge! One of the best, ladies and gentlemen!”

Jennifer Coolidge on life as a surprise superstar: ‘People love that I’m an outsider’

On the show, Coolidge explained that she has “so much respect for the LGBTQ community and I just want you all to know that I love you and thank you for always being there for me.”

“We all have the right to be who we are and love the people we love, tell our stories and celebrate that in any way we can,” she said.

Jennifer Coolidge at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards.

Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty

Jennifer Coolidge would use the ‘terrible things’ patrons said to her as a waitress for comedy sketches

Also celebrating at Saturday’s SBFF Virtuosos Awards were America Ferrera, Andrew Scott, Lily Gladstone, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Greta Lee and Charles Melton.

And while Lynch was buzzing about her friend Coolidge, honoree and Barbie star Ferrera (39) talked geekily on stage about his idol Tom Hanks.

Ferrera especially opened up about the moment when Hanks (67) congratulated her on a recent performance. Ferrera received a 2024 Oscar nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category for her work in Barbie.

“I don’t know if I’m ready to talk about it. I’m not ready to talk about what he said, but I guess whenever someone asks me, who were the actors you grew up wanting to be? I’d say Tom Hanks,” Ferrera said. “I wanted to be Tom Hanks more than any other actor. I did. He’s every man. He’s like, we all see ourselves in him, right?”

“He came up to me at an event and said really nice things and I’m still recovering from that,” she recalled, “and that was really the moment where I felt like… ‘OK, I’m happy, I can tap now, Tom Hanks just said nice things to me.'”

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White lotus and Barbie both can be streamed in full on Max.

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Source: HIS Education