Harry Styles Has Addressed The Queerbaiting Allegations By Smooching An SNL Cast Member

Harry Styles has addressed the discourse around his sexuality and the allegations of “queerbaiting” during his Saturday Night Live monologue, first with his words and then with his tongue.

During the host’s monologue, he reminisced about his last time hosting the show, back in 2019  and finishing his recent tour in 2023. “Back then, people seemed to pay a lot of attention to the clothes I was wearing, something called queerbaiting,” he said. “And some people accused me of it, but did it ever occur to you that maybe you don’t know everything about me, Dad?”

It’s a cute joke which only gently mocks the discourse around public figures “queerbaiting” audiences, which is a belief by fandoms that celebrities are pretending to be queer in order to lure in a queer audience and get the lucrative pink dollar.

Much of the queerbaiting discourse centres on calls by fans and media for these stars to come out of the closet, and confirm rabid speculation about their sexualities. Harry Styles, Taylor Swift, Jameela Jamil, Rita Ora, Billie Eilish, Yungblud, Shawn Mendes, Kit Connor and even the Heated Rivalry stars have all been pestered to confirm their sexualities amid obsessions over the most spurious of clues – a paparazzi photo, a music video, a choice of role.

Styles joke also highlights the invasive nature of the questioning around an entirely personal subject – by joking that he’s addressing his dad, he actually juxtaposes how wild it is that people would demand him to clarify his sexuality to the public.

“I mean, sometimes kissing can be great,” Styles continues in his speech. “You know, if you’re really good at it and you’re a good person.” At this point, SNL cast member Ben Marshall appears, to which Harry says, “Or if you have a tight little bum!” before going in for a full kiss on the lips. “Now that’s queerbaiting!”

Imagine being the Saturday Night Live cast member who got to make out with Harry Styles on television?

Harry Styles’ monologue! pic.twitter.com/k6q3sTunGi

— Saturday Night Live (@nbcsnl) March 15, 2026

What Is Queerbaiting?

Queerbaiting was originally a criticism directed at films and shows that would hint at LGBTQ+ representation without actually depicting it, in order to attract LGBTQ+ audiences without having to lose the straight ones. A good example is when JK Rowling proudly announced that Dumbledore had been “gay all along”, but then refused to actually depict it in any of her books, or in the Fantastic Beasts film franchise about his younger life.

But extremely online fandoms have weaponised and debased the term, levelling it at any celebrities they believe are performing queerness to curry their favour and and earn the “pink dollar”. Queerbaiting is something that a narrative or product can do – but the term doesn’t translate to celebrities, who are people, and therefore not brands. People cannot queerbait.

Harry Styles has been accused of queerbaiting many times, mostly for wearing flamboyant clothes, but also around his sexy video clip for the song Watermelon Sugar, and for playing a closeted gay man in the film My Policemen.

Harry has gone on the record and addressed criticisms of him queerbaiting, defending both his privacy and his right to remain “undefined” and without specific labels.

“It doesn’t matter, and it’s about not having to label everything, not having to clarify what boxes you’re checking,” he told Better Homes & Gardens.

“Sometimes people say, ‘You’ve only publicly been with women,’ and I don’t think I’ve publicly been with anyone. I’ve never talked about my life away from work publicly and found that it’s benefited me positively,” he also said in an August 2022 interview with Rolling Stone.

“There’s always going to be a version of a narrative, and I think I just decided I wasn’t going to spend the time trying to correct it or redirect it in some way. If someone takes a picture of you with someone, it doesn’t mean you’re choosing to have a public relationship or something.”