French Tennis player Richard Gasquet recently took some unprompted time to assert his oft-questioned heterosexuality. From an interview after he lost Tennis Masters Cup in China:
Q. Now your matches are finished. Do you still have any plan to go around the city maybe with your uncle or your girlfriend?
RICHARD GASQUET: My uncle? No. My girlfriend, no. I have no girlfriend, so I will try to find one, one Chinese girl. Why not? Why not? I lost 6-1, 6-1. It will be very hard for me tonight. I’m ready to lose, you know.
Q. Who is the girl watching your match with your uncle?
RICHARD GASQUET: Not my girl. I don’t know. Not my girl, for sure. No, no, no, I have just friends. Men friends, but I’m not gay.
Someone needs to get this boy a publicist, because he clearly doesn’t know how to work the press. Nor, it seems, does he have much faith in his sexuality.
hells kitchen guy
No, unfortunately anyone in the public eye who’s good looking, young and not married has to qualify his statement when he’s single because bloggers like you will immediately imply that he “must” be gay. That’s why he answered like that.
Billy
Um, he is queer. “Get a Chinese girl” = beard = gay.
hells kitchen guy
“Um, he is queer. “Get a Chinese girl†= beard = gay.”
I rest my case. Sad. Just sad.
WWH
I hope he’s gay. He’s a cutie pie:
http://www.teamtalk.com/Images/71284.jpg
Alan down in Florida
Whether he is or isn’t he is sure tetchy on the subject – admittedly the reporter asking if he was going to do the town after having been embarrassed on the court 6-1 6-1 is an idiot.
Parker
Hell’s Kitchen Guy, I’m not sure I follow you. You’re saying that Gasquet mentioned his sexuality because he anticipated Queerty speculating about it?
I simply fail to see how assuming someone’s heterosexuality is a neutral act, whereas positing that an unmarried, apparently non-dating adult might be gay is some sort of attack.
hells kitchen guy
Parker: I’d say that being gay implies “coming out,” which means that one was previously “in.” So yes, the implication is heterosexuality, unless the perrson states otherwise. That means passive acceptance, or a “neutral act,” whereas gay is activity, “coming out.” What complicates is sites likes these that create a hall of mirrors by implying that someone is gay until he states otherwise.
Yeah, it confuses me too.
Parker
HKG: I guess I just don’t agree with that premise. “Being out” implies, well, being out. “Being gay” implies one’s innate sexual orientation. And I know you’re speaking broadly, but I don’t see anywhere on this site anyone saying that someone is gay until he states otherwise. What I see in this instance is an observation of behaviors that leads to a postulation. It sounds as though you’re saying everyone is straight until proven innocent of this hideous charge.
Gregg
The man has been besieged with “are you gay” questions since it was a rumor that he was having an affair with an older businessman. He has had to deny it hundreds of times, so it’s certainly understandable that he would quickly jump to deny any gay insinuations. He’s young. He doesn’t sound homophobic to me.
hells kitchen guy
Parker, Yes, I would say that one is straight until “proven” otherwise — either by bed partners, close friends, relatives, or an active coming out process. I don’t think that implies that it’s “hideous” or a “charge.” Just that we’re – what? – 5%? 7% 10% of the population, so the natural inclination is say that a man is going to be straight. Doesn’t that make sense statistically w/out making it sound as though I think saying someone (or oneself) is gay is somehow wrong in any way?
Parker
HKGuy: I agree with your last post, but I don’t sense that neutrality in your first two. Why is your response to bloggers implying that “anyone in the public eye who’s good looking, young and not married” not simply “So?”
Ken
Also, I would imagine that among unmarried, goodlooking, non-dating athletes, the percentage actually is a bit higher than 10 percent.
hells kitchen guy
“I would imagine that among unmarried, goodlooking, non-dating athletes, the percentage actually is a bit higher than 10 percent.”
I respectfully disagree, but there’s no way to prove it unless someone sleeps with all of them. I’ll volunteer!
ProfessorVP
The notion that people are straight until proven gay sounds like innocent until proven guilty. Boo, hiss.
We will never know what percent of people are gay because there are penalties, especially financial, for coming out, and none for staying in. Naturally, Gasquet must be thinking of endorsements for Le Wheaties and Le Gatorade, which he won’t get if perceived gay… same as in the USA. Yes, he needs better professional public relations. Remember, Tom Cruise didn’t jump on Oprah’s couch until he fired his professional PR person and hired his own sister.