It’s a simple question. Does a celebrity need to be publicly out and proud in order to do gay stuff? According to lots of angry Twitter users, absolutely yes. The argument is that anyone participating in queer culture – especially when there’s profit and fame involved – who hasn’t declared their sexual identity, is a queerbaiter. At first glance, it’s a perfectly clear and concise response. But like anything that has the word ‘queer’ in it, the answer is much more complex than it initially seems.
Queerbaiting as a concept has changed meaning over time – thanks, in no small part, to social media and the Gen Zs. Ten years ago, gay baiting referred to the practice of insinuating that someone
