Sexuality is fluid, but some straight Hollywood stars only seem interested in the same sex when they have an album to sell, a movie to promote, or social media followers or YouTube viewers to gain.
Related: Nick Jonas accused of queer-baiting at New York vigil for Orlando
Take Logan Paul. The controversy-ridden YouTube star — who walked blindfolded into traffic for one video and laughed at a suicide victim for another — is now saying he’ll “go gay for just one month,” while legit queers around the world are asking him to kindly not.
Heterosexuals, please come collect your own. Us queers do not want Logan Paul.
LGBTQ people are literally killing themselves after being sent to conversion therapy, which is built on the myth he's perpetuating that you can "choose" to be gay.
— Alex Berg (@itsalexberg) January 11, 2019
While we try to contain our eye rolls about that situation, let’s reflect on the other celebs who have dabbled in queerbaiting — including, paradoxically, two stars whose actual same-sex attraction was called into doubt.
1. Nick Jonas
Nick Jonas has been dogged by queer-baiting accusations for much of his solo career, and for all his protestations, he probably only has himself to blame. After all, he has made repeated gay nightclub appearances, he once said he “can’t say” if he has experimented with men, and he claimed a gay sex scene on Kingdom qualified as gay sex.
The bulge-grabbing singer actually addressed his queerbaiting allegations in 2014, telling Pride Source, “Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. I think it’s unfortunate that some people have to find a negative in every situation. Clearly my heart is in the right place, and more than anything, if they just looked at my life and my gay friends and the authentic nature of where my heart is, they’d just see that they’re kind of ignorant.”
2. Tyler Posey
In 2016, this Teen Wolf heartthrob posted a Snapchat of himself posing on the corner of Gay and Christopher Streets in Manhattan, proclaiming, “This is me. I am this and this is me. I’ve never felt more alive. I’m gay!”
Amid Internet outrage, and amid his publicist’s claim that Posey was perhaps saying using “gay” in the “happy” context, Posey apologized.
“I am a big proponent of love over hate, and standing together during divisive times,” he tweeted. “Although I’m not gay, I fully support the LGBTQ community. This was a moment intended to reflect that. And everyone, I am truly sorry to the people I’ve offended or lessened how big coming out is. I just want to spread love in this world.”
3. James Franco
For a “straight” man, Franco seems awfully obsessed with the gay experience — releasing a book titled Straight James/Gay James, interviewing his gay persona for a web article, playing gay characters in films such as Milk and I Am Michael, directing a documentary about his efforts to reshoot the deleted X-rated scenes from Cruising, and even saying he’s gay “up to the point of intercourse.”
In response to Franco’s “relentless courtship of gay readers,” as The Muse called it, out comedian Billy Eichner called the actor “the Rachel Dolezal of gay people.”
Related: Five women have now accused James Franco of sexually inappropriate behavior
4 & 5. t.A.t.u
The Russian pop duo behind “All the Things She Said” only kissed for their music videos, it turns out, and they did so apparently at the insistence of their manager at the time. “He made us out to be lesbians when we were just singing for lesbians,” singer Lena Katina said, per BuzzFeed News.
Julia Volkova, the other half of t.A.t.u., charmingly revealed she’d condemn a gay son during a 2014 Russian television interview. “I believe that a real man must be a real man,” she said. “God created man for procreation.”
6. Rita Ora
Accusations of queerbaiting in the 2018 music video for “Girls” compelled Rita Ora to reveal that she has in fact had relationships with women, but OUT explained why the pop star’s critics shouldn’t necessarily be blamed for forcing her out of the closet. “When Ora starts talking about a sexually ‘ambiguous’ relationship she had with Cara Delevingne and then releases a song that hints at bisexuality but shies away from the topic in interviews, queer people feel as if they’ve seen this before. It seems to those audiences that this isn’t an experience; this is exploitation.”
7. Halsey
After a BuzzFeed writer seemed to question Halsey’s bisexuality in 2016, the singer said she had been dealing with that cynicism for years. “I still see people on the internet saying, ‘Of course Halsey says she’s bisexual. It’ll help her sell albums,’” she told Paper. “I never came out as a musician because I was already out when I started making music. I was in high school with people walking past me in the hallway calling me ‘dyke.’”
Wicked Dickie
It’s not queer-baiting, it’s just gays fawning over any hot body, whether they are gay or not.
inbama
Wow.
A relentless spammer complimenting a troll.
jjose712
You don’t seem to understand a thing
mz.sam
Wicked Dickie…totally LIMP!
iamru2
Writer of this article: Sexuality is fluid. Wait no it’s not if it doesn’t conform to my agenda.
Rock-N-RollHS
Bull’s Eye.
Donston
There are definitely some hypocrisies. “Gay media” and plenty of people on social media talk a lot about and promote fluidity, the romantic/sexual/emotional/relationship spectrum, not being defined by sex or sexuality, sexual freedom, experimentation, identity needing to become less socially important, being with and loving who you truly want to be with and love, etc. But it’s often just BS and lip service. It’s far more about pushing agenda and social politics, specific identities, wanting “representation”, trying to please every demo and offend no one and of course, for everyone involved, it’s about money, fame and notoriety.
Yes, there are definitely some celebs who try way too hard to appear “queer” or try too hard to aim for pink coins and attention. And hell, almost every supposedly edgy female pop star over the past 30 years has claimed to be legitimately into girls while still maintaining a pretty hetero image. But ultimately, if people stop going crazy over any semi famous person who suggests that they might be 100% hetero and also stop fawning over every dude with a six pack who’s “gay friendly” then this stuff wouldn’t be much of an issue.
Goforit
Damned if they do, damned if they don’t. These allies will never be able to please everyone. Just live your best lives and ignore your detractors. God we are an ungrateful group of people.
jjose712
It’s very easy to be gay friendly without gay baiting.
It’s like tv shows, all want the gay publicity without deliver any real gay storylines.
You don’t need to push the “my sexuality is fluid maybe i’m with a man in a future” to have gay fans, specially with the i’m not 100% straight came with a lot of publicity of your new girlfriend.
And even worse, the i’m practically a gay man because the guy llikes musicals and Rupaul’s drag race. Give me a break.
ARe you gay friendly? perfect, wants gay fans? even better but there are better forms to get them, because in the end these things end backfiring
Kanaka4127
Preach Goforit. My thoughts exactly.
niles
What a sick group of writers (and losers who agree with their tactics) in this rag! Your viciousness and hostility has become quite disgusting.
Brian
Of course, Queerty falls for this every single time and gives them the attention and publicity they are looking for.
Donston
That’s the ironic part.
It’s the entertainment industry. Most of those people are not entirely, completely hetero or homo from a romantic/sexual/emotional/relationship standpoint or at least they’re willing to “experiment”. And many do what they have to do for fame, attention, money, cultivating an image. So, this type of stuff is just another Thursday at this point. It is funny how they avoided criticizing all the female pop stars who have done this over the decades. I’m guessing it’s because most of them have large gay followings.
Rock-N-RollHS
Slow day, I guess.
But funny to see sexual fluidity camp assert and deny their contradictory claims.
MarathonBoy
So of the 6 examples (there are only 6 because tAtu is double counted): 2 are actually bisexual, 1 is included because he performed his music at a gay club, and 1 is included because of a single silly Instagram post, which he immediately clarified and apologized for. So the only real examples are James Franco and a musical group which was popular 15 years ago.
surreal33
The hypocrisy is on the gay community and gay media we swoon when a “straight celebrity” gives us the time of day. Conversely the gay community gets upset when it become painfully obvious that said “straight celebrity” is only pandering to the gay community for self-promotion. Celebrities gay, straight, questioning, bi, DON’T GIVE A [email protected] about the gay community!!! Celebrities always have been and always will be self-serving. Love and respect yourself you will happier in the long run.
Donston
That’s where I’ve been the last several years. People in entertainment often chirp about progression and freedom, but ultimately, very few are willing to make real sacrifices or say something that will genuinely shake up “the system”. They often just re-iterate the same ol’ politically correct and cliched phrases on their social media and in interviews and keep it pushing. The fact that there still aren’t any anywhere near A-list male actors who legitimately, publicly and unabashedly date guys, the fact that the most popular and industry supported openly gay male singer (Sam Smith) has a de-sexualized image and makes music that’s ambiguously homo-romantic/homo-erotic at best, the fact that most out famous or semi-famous guys are far more interested in posting shirtless pics of themselves on vacations than actually discussing and promoting real issues with any real depth, the fact that there still aren’t any non-closeted dudes in the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, professional tennis, etc. – it’s all a hint that as a whole there just aren’t many fvcks given.
Almost all of these people are driven by their own interests only. And trying to appeal to any “community” is often more about public image, attention and ego boosts above anything else. While most of this “ally” stuff is just hollow nonsense. People need to get and understand all of this stuff, move on and stop biting on the bait.
Donston
Donston
We also just need to stop being so damn obsessed with everyone’s identity, attractions and sexual behaviors. Being “gay” will never be cool. But being “queer”, “gay friendly”, “sexually subversive” or ambiguous does gain you some cool points in certain groups and always has. The reality is that unless a celeb truly and really wants to love and receive persistent affection from and be with someone who’s not the opposite cis gender of them they’re likely to maintain at least a mostly hetero public image dipping into public “queerdom” when they see fit.
I will say that James Franco stands out from the bunch and is the only “baiter” that legitimately bugs me and is problematic. He represents the worst type of supposed “ally”. Persistently dating and dumping teen girls. The assault and exploitation allegations. His hollow obsession with “gay culture” where he pretty much sees “gay” as a synonym for constant partying, drugs, being outrageous and guys getting it on with a lot of guys. He’s never spoken out concerning any real causes and doesn’t seem to understand the affection, emotional connection, romantic passions, relationship contentment aspects of “gay”. (He’s hyping intercourse when there are gay identifying people who aren’t even that into homo intercourse). I honestly doubt he even “likes” women, though he’s unlikely “gay”. The dude is just an overall creep. I hope he’s gotten the help he obviously needed.
FlyBy
The LGBTQ+ community has a pantheon of famous gays to turn for inspiration. The gay flirtations of the few money-grubbing celebrities has ZERO impact on our lives, deserve even less of our time and none of our support.
taylor94
The Entertainment industry is a business. These people are just doing what’s good for their brand. Generally they push a positive inclusive message. Nothing wrong with that and they do much more good than harm for our brand as well.
stan2015
Hey its all about getting press.
andreleneal
Are we ignoring Nicki MInaj, Miley Cyrus, and Lady GaGa? Mmmmkay…
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Are you freaking kidding me? Most of those you mentioned are EXTREMELY SUPPORTIVE of our conversation community. Miley Cyrus has a tattoo supporting Gay marriage!!
There are plenty of celebs who siht on our community. Leave those who support us the fcuk alone..
Doug
This has been going on for decades. David Bowie and Prince both played the gay card early in their careers to get noticed, then denied it once they got famous.
Black Pegasus
As far as I know, not one of these celebrities listed have done anything that would cause a young gay person to commit suicide or suffer mental anguish. Now contrast that with the countless comedians and professional athletes who have said and done homophobic bigoted shtt.
This article is trash.
BlaqueCatt
“Queerbaiting”? Jesus Christ. Would you rather have straight people saying, “Ew, gays are disgusting, I don’t want gay fans, keep away from me if you are gay.” Because a lot of them are still doing that. But let’s attack our allies because we have decided they crossed some hair-splitting line into harming gay people in some imaginary way.
duke4172
Does a straight man sucking a dick or taking part in anal sex make him gay is if is a one shot act?