Harry Styles has long enjoyed teasing fans about his sexuality, suggesting he might be bisexual, then walking it back, only to suggest it again later, and then walk it back again. Some people love this about him. Others, well, don’t.
In a new interview with The Guardian, Styles addressed the rumors around his sexuality, once again leaning into the ambiguity of his image.
When questioned whether he’s ever been asked if he’s bisexual, Styles responded by saying, “I dunno. Why?” He then went on to say he’s not deliberately trying to be ambiguous about anything, but rather, “Who cares?”
“It’s not like I’m sitting on an answer, and protecting it, and holding it back,” he said. “It’s just: who cares?”
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We’d argue a lot of people care, and that Styles knows this. It’s part of why he keeps playing coy.
When asked about his Fine Line album sleeve, which appears to reference the bisexual flag, Styles replied point blank: “Am I sprinkling in nuggets of sexual ambiguity to try and be more interesting? No.”
He continued, “I want things to look a certain way. Not because it makes me look gay, or it makes me look straight, or it makes me look bisexual, but because I think it looks cool.”
But Styles’ non-answers on this issue may be becoming a liability as many fans appear to be growing tired of the his reticence to speak plainly. (The game has been going on for years, after all.) And they’ve been taking to Twitter to share their feelings about it…
He won’t say anything so that he can continue bait the majority of his fanbase who wants desperately for him to be gay.
— Nikki (@myascension18) December 15, 2019
bro this is exactly why harry styles gives me the heebie jeebies like the queerbaiting is so CLEAR and yall take the bait every single time… https://t.co/qANFVe6rAg
— (@bigIesbian) December 15, 2019
One day when y’all are ready we are going to talk about Twitter has gotten together and decided to enable Harry Styles to the point where he’s able to queer bait for years with no repercussions.
— Nikki (@myascension18) December 15, 2019
Queer bait… the music industry is about making money. The easiest way is to cater to the LGBT community. We have been setting trends in what’s “hot” in music since the 70s. Also putting a man in pink, and using a wide angle lense is not innovative.
— Nick Le Prick (@NickyFuhyobih) December 12, 2019
I have no interest in Harry Styles but there’s a long trend of straight men deliberately obscuring their sexuality to queer bait their audience and if anyone does that “because sexuality doesn’t matter” they better speak up on queer issues when it matters
— (@hvrryv) December 16, 2019
harry styles really is fucking annoying. he’ll wave all kinds of flags, make hints and queer bait til he’s blue in the face but you *know* he’s never going to say shit.
— ^._.^ (@hjpotta) December 16, 2019
Of course, Styles isn’t the only former member of One Direction who has come under fire for how he communicates with his LGBTQ fanbase.
Earlier this month, his former bandmate Liam Payne was accused of fetishizing bisexuality in his new song “Both Ways,” which details a sexual encounter with a man and two women.
Related: Guys like Liam Payne need to stop writing songs about bisexual people
wonderette
If anyone bothered to pay attention to what he says, he clearly doesn’t identify as straight and doesn’t want to label himself. Not everyone has fully discovered themselves by the age of 25. I fail to see how him wearing a pride flag pin on his days off just for himself is queerbaiting. Or owning a Keith Haring shirt of two men giving each other handjobs or one saying I’d love to fellate George Harrison are actions of a straight man.
OzJosh
When the individual doing this is actually notoriously heterosexual, then what you describe is textbook queer baiting. See Harry Styles.
rikard_pearson
the idea that there is a big advantage to pandering to a minority community drives sales. the cachet of being lgbtq is of dubious value in the marketplace. sure things are changing and younger people are more open to it, but the largest segment of the population is that big middle area where people are ambivalent, anxious and antagonistic. it doesn’t take much for them to sit on their hands and ignore gay and bi artists.
jjose712
You are very wrong.
Just ask Enrique Iglesias who stood there when his career was not so stellar (gays and soccer moms).
And of course in Styles’ case it’s obvious that for a part (not a small one) of his fanbase is an important theme.
He just Nick Jones just doesn’t know when to stop, it’s perfectly ok to be a straight ally, and if you don’t want to talk about your sexual orientation just don’t talk about it, but he is playing ambiguous all the time, and people get tired of that game after a while
MISTERJETT
what he should say is “none of your business”.
Doctor Benway
It’s complicated. Because yeah, he seems to queer bait his lgbtq fan base but in the same time, it’s mostly those people who are more interedted in his sexuality than his music.
As for Liam Payne (the situation is a bit different), it’s just pop music and entertainment, stop giving too much importance about artists private life or an isolated lyrics in a song. He is clearly an LGBT ally, that’s cool, I enjoy his music, his last album is the best thing that happen to pop music since MGMT first album, I don’t care whether he is bi or gay or anything. I’m not gonna love him more because he says he’s bi. He is one of the few singer who communicate about his music and not about his private life.
Lgbt activist are really weird. Pressuring people to come out, always talking about artists supposed sexuality, that’s really toxic. Maybe he’d like people to not care about his sexuality, maybe he knows if he comes out, fans are only gonna talk about that and not his work, and maybe he’d like to be considered as a human being, not as a bi artist or anything like that. Maybe they should think a little (if they can) and chill out.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
“As for Liam Payne (the situation is a bit different)”
It certainly is. While Styles has made numerous positive supporting comments about our community, Liam Payne is a vile abhorrent noxious homophibic puddle of puke…..
Donston
I have a feeling that Harry sees himself as “a ‘straight’ guy with some gender/sexual quirks”. A lot of guys ultimately see themselves that way, even if they are inherently bi/pan. Hell, a lot of bi/pan/queer/fluid identifying guys still see themselves that way at the end of the day. No one should feel forced to come out or to embrace a particular identity. However, it is true that he has indulged what many would consider “queer-baiting”. That doesn’t really work long-term in today’s world. Unless you publicly embrace an identity or you have unabashed non-hetero relationships, social media nazi’s will quickly turn against you for doing that. That’s why unless you’re ready to be genuinely honest and live freely you’re better off just being “gay-friendly”.
Doctor Benway
@OzJosh What makes you believe he is “notoriously heterosexual”? Because medias and management keep portraying him as that? Medias rumored him with many female celebrities but he almost always denied it. They wanted to make him a manwhore but he refused to play that role. Just because he never said he was gay or bi means he is straight.
russdog
It certainly isn’t anyone’s business, but actual straight people don’t jump through all these hoops. They just say they’re straight.
JeffreyNobleDonahue
It’s nobody’s business if he’s bisexual or not…people should worry about themselves and not the sexuality of a celebrity
TheMarc
Well, whatever it is that he’s doing…it’s his business. Visibility is certainly important and I feel most LGBT celebrities volunteering their sexual identity is very beneficial and essential; primarily for the benefit of our younger members. That being said; it’s not mandatory. If he is playing a game and just “queerbaiting,” then the fault doesn’t really lie with him for doing so; it lies with us because it seems to work. Free press and a devoted following by those who think he’s giving a “wink” to them with these answers is how he benefits. We shouldn’t be so easily manipulated or so incredibly obsessed.
Ya know, I know of quite a few LGBT celebrities and none of them have the amount of write-ups/articles as some of the straight celebrities (particularly hot, straight males) CONSTANTLY mentioned on this site. Isn’t that more of a problem that this gossipy BS?
jasentylar
Am I the only one that read his Rolling Stone interview where he stated he’s straight? I’m not sure why this keeps coming up.
Donston
Everyone (including a percentage of his fan base) pretends like that interview didn’t happen, despite it being just a few months ago.