Sean Hayes says the cast of Will & Grace received some confusing hate mail after the series premiered in 1998.

During an episode of the SmartLess podcast released on Monday , Hayes told fellow co-hosts Jason Bateman and Will Arnett and guest Trevor Noah that he and his cast mates used to get death threats all the time from people angry about the series featuring gay characters.

The show followed the friendship between Debra Messing s Grace Adler and Eric McCormack s Will Truman, a straight woman and her gay best friend living in New York City. Hayes played character Jack McFarland, who was also gay, while Megan Mullally rounded out their quirky clique as Karen Walker.

While the death threats were one thing, Hayes said there was a less menacing message that managed to etch into his memory.

Detailing one of the greatest letters we ever got, the actor said, This woman wrote in to Will & Grace took the time, got a pen, paper, wrote it, got a stamp, mailed it. Remember, this was before the internet and everything. Its a lot of effort to really share with someone how much you hate them.