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Harry Styles has addressed the discourse around his sexuality and the allegations of “queerbaiting” during his Saturday Night Live monologue, first with his words and then with his tongue.

During the host’s monologue, he reminisced about his last time hosting the show, back in 2019聽 and finishing his recent tour in 2023. 鈥淏ack then, people seemed to pay a lot of attention to the clothes I was wearing, something called queerbaiting,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd some people accused me of it, but did it ever occur to you that maybe you don鈥檛 know everything about me, Dad?鈥�

It’s a cute joke which only gently mocks the discourse around public figures “queerbaiting” audiences, which is a belief by fandoms that celebrities are pretending to be queer in order to lure in a queer audience and get the lucrative pink dollar.

Much of the queerbaiting discourse centres on calls by fans and media for these stars to come out of the closet, and confirm rabid speculation about their sexualities. Harry Styles, Taylor Swift, Jameela Jamil, Rita Ora, Billie Eilish, Yungblud, Shawn Mendes, Kit Connor and even the Heated Rivalry stars have all been pestered to confirm their sexualities amid obsessions over the most spurious of clues 鈥� a paparazzi photo, a music video, a choice of role.

Styles joke also highlights the invasive nature of the questioning around an entirely personal subject – by joking that he’s addressing his dad, he actually juxtaposes how wild it is that people would demand him to clarify his sexuality to the public.

鈥淚 mean, sometimes kissing can be great,鈥� Styles continues in his speech. 鈥淵ou know, if you鈥檙e really good at it and you鈥檙e a good person.鈥� At this point, SNL cast member Ben Marshall appears, to which Harry says, 鈥淥r if you have a tight little bum!鈥� before going in for a full kiss on the lips. 鈥淣ow that鈥檚聽queerbaiting!鈥�

Imagine being the Saturday Night Live cast member who got to make out with Harry Styles on television?

Harry Styles鈥� monologue!

鈥� Saturday Night Live (@nbcsnl)

What Is Queerbaiting?

Queerbaiting was originally a criticism directed at films and shows that would hint at 17c起草社区+ representation without actually depicting it, in order to attract 17c起草社区+ audiences without having to lose the straight ones. A good example is when JK Rowling proudly announced that Dumbledore had been “gay all along”, but then refused to actually depict it in any of her books, or in the Fantastic Beasts film franchise about his younger life.

But extremely online fandoms have weaponised and debased the term, levelling it at any celebrities they believe are performing queerness to curry their favour and and earn the 鈥減ink dollar鈥�. Queerbaiting is something that a narrative or product can do – but the term doesn’t translate to celebrities, who are people, and therefore not brands. People cannot queerbait.

Harry Styles has been accused of queerbaiting many times, mostly for wearing flamboyant clothes, but also around his sexy video clip for the song Watermelon Sugar, and for playing a closeted gay man in the film My Policemen.

Harry has gone on the record and addressed criticisms of him queerbaiting, defending both his privacy and his right to remain “undefined” and without specific labels.

鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 matter, and it鈥檚 about not having to label everything, not having to clarify what boxes you鈥檙e checking,” he told聽

鈥淪ometimes people say, 鈥榊ou鈥檝e only publicly been with women,鈥� and I don鈥檛 think I鈥檝e publicly been with anyone. I鈥檝e never talked about my life away from work publicly and found that it鈥檚 benefited me positively,鈥� he also said in an August 2022 interview with .

鈥淭here鈥檚 always going to be a version of a narrative, and I think I just decided I wasn鈥檛 going to spend the time trying to correct it or redirect it in some way. If someone takes a picture of you with someone, it doesn鈥檛 mean you鈥檙e choosing to have a public relationship or something.鈥�