The release of Billie Eilish’s latest video – ‘Lost Cause,’ in which she has a loud sleepover with a group of her girlfriends dancing, posing sexy, eating snacks and basically having fun – has some fans to call him on social media with a specific charge: “queerbaiting”.
“Hey, can Billie Eilish stop baiting, please.” She knows what she is doing, ”noted un tweet.
Another asked, “Is Billie Eilish Bi?” Or did I just watch four minutes of queerbaiting done by a straight person. “
And another: “Is it just me who feels like Billie Eilish’s new music video is just queerbaiting?” “
In the comments section of her video, the majority of which was overwhelmingly positive, some had doubts: “I love Billie but it looks a bit like she’s some weird bait, what do I mean? ?? “
The discussion was even more heated on TikTok, where many fans and critics posted videos, with one saying, “Acting sexually with girls to get more audiences is disgusting.”
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First of all, what is queerbaiting?
“In the media, queerbaiting often manifests as a coded romance or some other type of portrayal that hints at being LGBTQ, but never actually confirms or portrays that portrayal,” Rich Ferraro , communications director at GLAAD, the watchdog of fairness and accuracy in LGBTQ media representation, talks to Yahoo Life about the idea, sometimes referred to as “gaybaiting.” “We often see it from brands or talents who are trying to market products or projects to the community and aim not to create change, but to profit from LGBTQ dollars. “
Further, he adds, “For a community that has historically been under-represented in the media and continues to lack sufficient visibility in film, television, advertising and more, queerbaiting has been called for time and time again. taken up by our community and goes against how to authentically and meaningfully engage with LGBTQ people. “
For additional context, Ferraro points to GLAAD’s most recent research with Proctor & Gamble, which found that 81% of advertisers fear being seen as genuine when creating LGBTQ campaigns – prompting GLAAD to launch Project Visibility for work with brands “to avoid queerbaiting and use their reach to create content that has impact. “
This is because the idea of using allusions to LGBTQ romance to gain fans or viewers can come from any form of media including advertising, social media, TV shows, movies and pop music.
Who else has sparked the queerbaiting accusations?
TV shows are often called out to tease LGBTQ sex or romance and not follow through – with Kara and Lena’s relationship on Super Girl an example, just to start, with that of Betty and Veronica on Riverdale – not to mention the originals, Xena and Gabrielle on Xena. And then there is Kill Eve. ” A more delicate but often cited example is the relationship between Eve (Sandra Oh) and Villanelle (Jodie Comer) on Kill Eve«I noticed PureWow. “Villanelle is an overtly queer character… but the relentless suggestion of a relationship between Villanelle and alleged straight Eve is what made fans frown. But when Oh and Comer gave an interview to Gay time, Oh dismissed the idea of a relationship, saying, “You’re difficult because you want to make something of it… but you just aren’t. “”
According to New roses, “By adding a homoerotic subtext or erotic tension between two characters, usually leads, the LGBTQ audience is enticed to connect, unaware that there was never any intention to elevate the subtext to. a real relationship. Bleugh. The story continues, “The powers that be are using LGBTQ characters and relationships as bait, to appeal to the gay dollar and queer perspectives, without really following through.” It’s just enough to keep LGBT people interested, without having to really represent us. “
Billie Eilish isn’t the only pop star or celebrity to have been accused – Taylor Swift, Nick Jonas, Harry Styles, Ariana Grande, Tyler Posey and James Franco have all been accused of the same thing at different points in their careers, with Jonas tackled the accusations in 2014 by saying, “Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I think it’s unfortunate that some people have to find a negative point in every situation. Obviously my heart is in the right place, and more than anything, if they looked at my life and my gay friends and the genuine nature of my heart, they would just see that they are sort of ignorant. He said later Outside that the accusations were “very, very sad”.
Still, this isn’t the first time Eilish has faced this accusation, as fans first cried in 2019 in response to the song “Wish You Were Gay”. She responded by saying, “First of all, I want to be so clear that this is not meant to be an insult. I have the impression that this has been a little misinterpreted. I tried so hard not to make it offensive in any way. The whole idea of the song is, it’s kind of a joke. It’s kind of like ‘I’m a jerk and you don’t love me.’ And you don’t love me because you don’t love me and that’s the only reason and I wish you didn’t love me because you didn’t like girls… It’s just meant to be ‘I’m selfish and stupid. ‘
Although she has not commented on the current speech, she recently said British Vogue, “My thing is, I can do whatever I want… It all depends on what makes you feel good. If you want to have an operation, go and have an operation. If you want to wear a dress that someone thinks you look too big, f ** k it – if you feel good you look good. “
Still, some TikTokers go to great lengths to explain why they think his “Lost Cause” video is problematic.
“If you’ve seen the video, it’s very clearly sexual… they’re teasing each other,” one user noted. “And I’ve seen people tell me they’re like good friends, but… she could have shown they were good friends in another way.” “
Another breaks it down with plenty of explanations for what she sees as the problem, including: “Acting sexually with girls to get more audiences is disgusting… lgbtq people have virtually no representation in the media so when it comes down to it. there are, we cling to it, we are so desperate to feel seen. Queerbaiting is dangerous because it unravels this scenario. He invalidates it. ”
“She says she’s straight…” another user said, adding, “The only reason Billie doesn’t really get pissed off about this is because everyone thinks she’s gay.” “
Many, of course, disagree with the critics, noting that Billie “may be hinting at her sexuality since it’s pride month,” and stressing, “we don’t know her sexuality and we don’t know her sexuality. we don’t have to ”.
In the comments section of her video, Eilish fans were overwhelmingly approving, with one writing: “SHE FEELS LIKE SHE SHOULD‼ ️ She still looks gorgeous‼ ️”
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