Even Billie Eilish’s silence seems to spark at least a week of content and talk. After emerging into popular consciousness about two years ago, at the age of 16, with her flagship album WHEN WE FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? – a work that seemed to mark the arrival of Gen Z in the cultural arena – the LA-based singer was also subjected to the new ways of seeing, living and consuming the fame of a new generation. And, as a celebrity existing in 2021, Eilish is also subject to some of the pernicious cruelties that characterize the darker corners of fandoms today.
Take the events of this weekend as proof. Fans of Eilish, who originated the trending hashtag “#youlikegirls”, spent much of Saturday night sending social media missives to their idol in response to the singer’s recent online activity. , as well as her offline love life. After releasing the music video for her latest single Lost Cause, which she promoted via Instagram with screenshots of her having fun with friends, along with the caption “I love girls” , fans quickly became suspicious of the singer’s intentions.
Coupled with reports that Eilish was dating 30-year-old actor Matthew Tyler Vorce (whose social media was hastily watched by Eilish fans, who discovered a series of homophobic remarks posted on his Facebook page, circa 2011), a significant number of her fans disowned Eilish for what they considered “queerbaiting”.
Eilish responded, or rather, liked an Instagram post later on Saturday night that read, “This fandom is so embarrassing sometimes, why would you go into someone’s comments and say something you don’t even know you are? true and something you LITERALLY MANUFACTURED, sometimes you are all so stupid. Some of you just need to learn how to mind your own business. The mere taste of a post – all online interactions of Eilish appear to be widely datafied and scrutinized – prompted part of her fans to repudiate her, and the tabloids to echo their queerbaiting claims.
“Queerbaiting” is a term and accusation that has gained traction over the past five years, as the power of fandom has grown and fans’ expectations for the celebrities they idolize have changed and expanded. . A relatively new word, the term was originally coined in response to TV shows from the 2010s, including Sherlock and Supernatural, which seemed to bring in a considerably large queer base that the show’s producers sometimes thought were same-sex. . -they script up front, without ever letting these relationships materialize.
In some cases, accusations of queerbaiting would prompt writers to add queer storylines. Today, queerbaiting has become an increasingly frequent criticism of celebrities – everyone from Rita Ora to Taylor Swift has been subjected to it – as if it were text, not text. a person, who could be shaped to perfectly match the aspirations of the public.
There seems to be some pressure on female celebrities not to date those their fans consider “bad men” (Killing Eve actress Jodie Comer has been “canceled “last year because of her boyfriend, whom fans thought too right-wing). Or, better yet, to completely escape the heterosexual matrix and completely renounce men. Whether it’s Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift or Billie Eilish, fans (and not always just gays) tend to look forward to seeing if their idols perform some sort of idealized queerness and live happily ever after. always in a lesbian-feminist utopia.