30 Rock star Maulik Pancholy comes out as gay

Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a pink background.

30 Rock star Maulik Pancholy has come out as gay after celebrating a nine-year anniversary with his partner.

The 39-year-old, who played a gay character named Jack in the show, made the announcement in an interview with Out for its annual “Out 100” list.

He said: “I just celebrated my nine-year anniversary with my partner. It feels like a nice time to be celebrating something like that, especially on the heels of the DOMA and Prop 8 decisions.”

The US supreme Court struck down both the Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA) and Prop 8 in June.

Mr Pancholy currently voices the title character on Nickelodeon’s animated comedy series, Sanjay and Craig, due for a second series in 2014.

He also recently played two gay characters in other television shows, including Neal on NBC’s now-canceled sitcom, Whitney, and Sanjay Patel on Weeds who came out of the closet as gay at the start of the third series.

Last year, 30 Rock mocked one of its cast-members, comedian Tracy Morgan, for his ill-judged anti-gay jokes.

Morgan was forced to publicly apologise for a routine at a gig in Nashville which “shocked” audience members.

The comedian admitted going too far with the remarks, which included saying he would stab his son to death if he came out as gay.

The show lampooned the actor by recreating a similar scenario, involving Morgan’s character having to apologise to GLAAD, but mistakenly apologising to Glad, a Californian bin bag company.