Bromance

The star of ‘Starsky & Hutch’ just admitted the show is totes gay

Paul Michael Glaser, the 78-year-old actor known for his role on the ’70s detective series Starsky & Hutch, has just admitted what many of us have known for decades: the show has a hearty dose of the homoerotic.

Speaking with Page Six, Glaser, who played detective David Starsky on the series, admitted to the show’s gay overtones.

“I think it’s very real,” he said. “I think it’s important to understand that yeah, there’s homoerotic elements. … I think the reality is David [Soul, Glaser’s co-star who played Hutch] and I are for the most part — if you have to define oneself — as straight. But you have to be able to recognize there’s a part of all of us that is homoerotic.”

Related: Bromance after love: Why friendship with an ex is easier for gay men

“We see someone of the same sex that’s attractive, we either deny it or acknowledge that it’s there,” Glaser elaborated. “Does that mean we’re going to have a homosexual relationship with that person? Not necessarily, but it becomes much more freeing to be able to acknowledge something that exists, maybe kid about it, play with it a little bit and move on. One thing David and I had and still have is a very deep friendship.”

The comments follow an Instagram post by Glaser this February, which showed he and Soul in a–shall we say–intimate embrace. The two also wear Starsky & Hutch shirts embossed in pride colors–something they didn’t realize at the time. “Everyone needs a Hutch to their Starsky,” he captioned the photo.

“Little did I know that the colorful rainbow of colors that I used were gay pride colors,” Glaser quipped.

Since starring on Starsky & Hutch, Paul Michael Glaser has gone on to a successful directing career, helming films such as The Running Man and The Cutting Edge. He also has continued to act, appearing in films including Something’s Got to Give and on television in Grace and Frankie, Criminal Minds and Ray Donovan.

Glaser has also worked as an AIDS philanthropist, co-founding the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation in 1988. The organization takes its name from Glaser’s late wife, artist Elizabeth Glaser, who contracted HIV via blood transfusion. She died in 1994.

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