The Jonas Brothers On Posing For Gay Men: “It’s About Time”

Nick Jonas‘ bulging biceps are back in the news this week, appearing alongside the rest of the JoBro clan in an exclusive photo spread for Out magazine’s November issue. The hunky trio may not be taking their shirts off to prove it, but in the accompanying interview, Nick, Joe, and some dude named Kevin want you to know they really, really love gay fans.

They’re All Grown Up now, busy promoting their fifth studio album—the first in four years—to reflect their new, more masculine look. “I think we realized that, creatively, we were in very different places,” Nick said of the decision to leave their Disney-backed label, Hollywood Records. “We didn’t want to talk about if they would put a parental advisory label on it,” Joe added.

More importantly, the boys address those “pesky gay rumors,” while at the same time completely skirting the (alleged) fact that Joe Jonas has a gay-ish sex tape floating around somewhere. They also answered the inevitable Outisms (What do you think of gay fans? What do you think of fans that are gay? What do you think of gay people? Gay? Gay, gay!, et.al) with grace:

Joe: We have a lot of gay friends and gay fans. It’s a boy band stereotype; people assume, but we don’t take offense.

Nick: Prior to us being a band, I was a super theater geek. I loved theater and I still do, and I care about fashion, and I care about a lot of things that I feel like stereotypes are attached to.

Joe: [Being in Out] is a moment for us for sure. We keep saying, “Well, it’s about time.”

Also, they reveal the new Jonas Brothers will be a “rock” band of sorts:

Joe: You get to this point where you can’t live your life trying to satisfy everybody, personally or as a musician. Somebody’s going to find something negative. So we were like, Let’s just be who we are and have opinions — whether it’s on politics or music — and really show who we are as people.

Kevin: With being able to take back masters of our songs and become our own bosses in a way, we have a lot of people hearing new stuff, and maybe they have had misconceptions in the past of who we are as a band. At the end of the day, I think people are surprised to know that we’re a rock band at our core. Things have started to shift where people are starting to feel the passion behind the art that we’re doing.

But the interview wasn’t all just fluff and glamour shots. The boys also managed to address the hard-hitting political issues that matter, including Miley Cyrus twerking at the VMAs. (Have you heard about this yet?)

On Miley Cyrus’s VMA performance

Joe: [Hesitates] It wasn’t my favorite performance of hers. I think that there’s one way of saying you’ve grown up, and there’s another way — I think that’s her way. Look, people are talking about it, so I think it’s working for what she wants.

Nick Jonas: She’s smart. She’s very smart. We’ve always known that about her. She’ll always be successful. [The performance] was funny — I was laughing.

Joe: I’m great [with twerking]. I’m with it.

Nick: I’m against it. I’ve just reached my limit. It’s just done. It’s too much.

Joe: Bring it on. I’m a fan. I just think it’s appropriate for the right people. Not everyone can twerk.

Nick: Anybody that’s on Diplo’s page — have you seen his Instagram? It’s impressive.

Kevin: I’m straight down the middle. The right amount at the right time.

The November issue hits newsstands October 22.