“These fandoms don’t exist to — or aim to — ‘unmask’ these celebrities,” she insists. “These fandoms are often a way for people to find queer representation in contexts otherwise saturated with straightness. From country singers to boy bands, these cultural spaces are considered by the general public to be entirely straight. Queer fandoms emerge in these contexts in part because people try to push against the grain.
From the theory of “Larry Stylinson” to the assumed bisexuality of David Bowie, speculation around the sexual orientation of celebrities is nothing new.
“It’s human nature to talk shit about our social superiors,” Gray says. “We always have, and we always will, and it’s homophobic to exclude queer people and queer stories from this natural human experience.”
The Swift debate recently came to a head when the singer revealed the title of the first track from her new album which will be released later this week, LHaze seller. Reference to this color, which is a symbol of LGBTQ resistance, fueled Gaylors’ belief that she identified with the community and wanted to share a part of herself with her closest queer fans who understood the relatively niche reference.
But the Gaylor celebrations were short-lived. Swift later explained on Instagram that the song was actually about ignoring “weird rumors” to stay in a state of total love; a love she attributes to her longtime male partner, Joe Alwyn.
The mention of “weird rumours” was taken by some Gaylors as a direct affront, crushing any previous queer signaling dear to the hearts of the fandom. Several Gaylors took to TikTok and Reddit to express their disappointment, sparking backlash from Hetlors and others who argued that a celebrity’s sexuality shouldn’t be a topic of public discussion.
Pablo The Don is a popular critic of TikTok and Swiftie culture. They say celebrity sexuality theories are perfectly acceptable in the privacy of a group chat. But when public platforms like TikTok get involved, these discussions of queer celebrity lose their nuance.
“People don’t realize the inherent privilege that a lot of white celebrities have in being label-free,” Pablo says. “They don’t do that [theories] about black artists or Latino artists… Instead of spending your time trying to make up theories, or trying to assert the fact that something we don’t know about a person is true, spend your time, your money and your efforts to support someone where we already know [they’re queer].”
Looking ahead to Swift’s new album, Midnightsthe Gaylor vs. Hetlor debate became so heated that the GaylorSwift Reddit page was made private and several of the most incendiary TikToks – including one where Gaylors was called Ukraine and Swift’s video as bombs aimed at Russia – were removed.
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Despite these few controversial videos, McCann expresses concern about the extent of the vitriol directed at the fandom as a whole, including accusations of the singer’s forceful exit.
“Looking at the history of celebrities coming out, it all happened in the media sphere, where gossip columnists and interviewers pressured celebrities,” she says. “Society’s homophobia or queerphobia is the issue here… The fans’ desires aren’t the real issue.”
