Harry Styles’ wardrobe choices over the last few years, both during red carpet appearances and photoshoots, left fans wondering about the singer’s s*xual orientation.
Given that the former One Direction vocalist never officially came out, many accused him of “queerbaiting,” a branding strategy used to hint at, but never explicitly depict, queer representations to draw LGBTQ+ audiences while avoiding alienation of conservative viewers.
During his recent appearance as the host and musical guest on Saturday Night Live (SNL) on March 14, Styles addressed the allegations with a touch of humor in his opening monologue.
“This is exactly how people should handle the stupid queerbaiting accusations,” one person commented about the speech. “Don’t bend the knee.”
Harry Styles kissed SNL’s Ben Marshall right after addressing “queerbaiting” allegations
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Styles returned to host and perform on SNL last Saturday for the first time since November 16, 2019. Previously, he had performed once as a solo musical guest in 2017 and multiple times before that with One Direction.
During his opening monologue, he reflected on his past public appearances during which his fluid fashion sense got many to assume he was either gay or queerbaiting.
“Back then, people seemed to pay a lot of attention to the clothes I was wearing, and some people accused me of something called queerbaiting,” Styles said. “But did it ever occur to you that maybe you don’t know everything about me, Dad?”
Styles quickly added that he had run the joke by his father, who was fine with it.
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The Grammy-winning artist then continued the comedy bit about queerbaiting while talking about his new album, Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally, which was released on March 6.
“What’s better than kissing all the time?” Styles said, after joking that he came up with the name with the help of ChatGPT.
“I don’t want to kiss all the time,” he quickly clarified, as SNL staff Chloe Fineman appeared briefly behind him before leaving in disappointment. “Sometimes kissing can be great, if you’re really good at it and you’re a good person,” he added, as Sarah Sherman, another staff member, showed up on his other side before slinking away as well.
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“Or, if you have a tight little b*m,” Styles said, at which point SNL’s Ben Marshall appeared on the screen. After a light banter about the size of Marshall’s backside, Styles said, “Whatever, come here,” and kissed him onstage.
“Now that’s queerbaiting,” Styles said, winking at the camera.
Harry Styles also made fun of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, previously known as Prince Andrew, during his SNL monologue by using the viral photo of him in the backseat of a car after being released from police custody.
“As a British man who has spent a lot of his life in the public eye, I can assure you there’s something nice about being boring,” he said, as the picture popped up on the screen. “It’s better than the alternative.”
Netizens were divided over Harry Styles’ SNL monologue
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Styles’ SNL speech triggered a new wave of reactions from his fans and the broader social media community.
Some thought he was right to keep things vague; others said that kissing a man onscreen was technically Styles coming out. A few believed he did not need to give any explanation at all.
“He does not owe anyone any information about his s*xuality or personal life,” one user said. “If he does not want to label himself publicly, he does not have to.”
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Image credits: Getty/Kevin Mazur
“I’ve always thought he was bisexual/unlabeled,” said another. “Whatever flavor of queer you are, congratulations on the blatant openness.”
A third commented: “And people are STILL debating if he’s queer. So now we know you can LITERALLY kiss someone of the same gender on national TV and some people will insist you’re straight.”
Image credits: Getty/Amy Sussman
“Why is no one talking about how he publicly confirmed that he is a bisexual king, like we’ve known, but HELLO?” one more wrote.
“Why does everyone care about his s*xuality so much?” one person said. “You’re never going to date him, so it’s not relevant to your life.”
Harry Styles revealed that his outfits have nothing to do with his orientation
Despite heavy speculation, Styles has not confirmed himself to be straight, gay, or bisexual, and has clarified on multiple occasions that he is not bothered by the labels.
In a December 2019 interview with The Guardian, when asked if he does not identify as straight, he said: “It’s not like I’m sitting on an answer, and protecting it, and holding it back… who cares?”
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When pressed by the interviewer about dropping hints in the form of outfits and appearances, Styles denied that he was deliberately leaving breadcrumbs for fans to catch on.
“Am I sprinkling in nuggets of s*xual ambiguity to try and be more interesting? No,” he said. “In terms of how I wanna dress, and what the album sleeve’s gonna be, I tend to make decisions in terms of collaborators I want to work with.”
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“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. And more than that, I dunno, I just think s*xuality’s something that’s fun. Honestly? I can’t say I’ve given it any more thought than that.”
“Soft coming out.” Fans shared their thoughts on Harry Styles’ SNL monologue
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