Jonathan Groff Talks Leather Harnesses: “It Awakened Things In Me”

Musical theatre darling Jonathan Groff has spoken of his new leather love affair, opening up about a new wardrobe piece on a podcast last week.

Speaking to Evan Ross Katz on their podcast “Shut Up Evan”, Groff  discussed a pair of leather chaps he’d purchased for Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter tour, which led him to explore more of the leather world.

Groff specifically purchased a harness for Pride, going on to wear it at a friend’s ‘Cuntclave’ themed birthday party.

Groff told Katz that he bought the outfits from well-known boutique, The Leather Man in New York City, with the designer having visited Groff’s Broadway show, Just in Time, the week before.

“We just immediately hit it off,” Groff said. “I went in there looking for the assless chaps for the Beyoncé concert, and it was like we just became fast friends. Like soulmates. And then I was like, I really want to get, like, a proper harness.

“I have a harness that I got in Berlin when I was there, and I am learning about the club culture. And then I was like, I want to do the real thing, where that [he indicates the position of a central strap] attaches all the way down. And he was like, ‘I got you.’ So, yeah, it was great.”

Groff: “I got very excited”

Groff wore the outfit to the theatre for Pride, going on to wear it for his own pride party in his dressing room, saying, “it felt amazing”.

Groff recounted how wearing it made him feel, saying, “I think for me, it awakened things in me. I got, like, very excited. It felt amazing. And I remember feeling it in Berlin when I put the harness on, seeing people in harnesses.”

After coming out publicly in 2009 at a Marriage Equality march in Washington D.C., Groff has since embraced his sexual identity and has flourished within the queer community.

Outside of his career in music and theatre, Groff has broken ground as a gay actor through his feature roles in films including Netflix’s crime thriller Mind Hunter and The Matrix Resurrections.