Harry Styles addressed the 'queerbaiting' allegations by sharing an on-stage kiss during his Saturday Night Live opening monologue.
The As It Was singer, 32, took a swipe at fans accusing him of being purposely vague about his own sexuality.
Queerbaiting, as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, is the 'targeted provocation of LGBTQ people'.
In Harry's case, he has always emphasised the need to not put a label on his sexual preferences.
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“Back then, people seemed to pay a lot of attention to the clothes I was wearing and some people accused me of something called ‘queerbaiting’," he said, before joking: "But did it ever occur to you: You don’t know everything about me, Dad!"
Harry then turned our attention to his new album Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally.
“What’s better than kissing all the time? Which I don’t actually do — I don’t kiss all the time,” he said, as repertory player Chloe Fineman appeared behind him then left.
“Sometimes, kissing can be great,” he continued: “You know, if you’re really good at it, and you’re a good person,” as Sarah Sherman came on and quickly stormed off.
“Or if you have a tight little bum,” Harry said, as SNL star Ben Marshall turned up besides him.
“Well, you said tight little bum, so where's my kiss?” Marshall said.
“C’mon, Ben, everyone knows there’s nothing little about that thang. You’re holding a damn wagon back there,” the 1D star replied.
“Whatever, come here,” Harry said as he leaned in for a smooch with Marshall. “Now that’s queerbaiting.”
Fans were delighted by the segment, as one person commented: "Harry Styles joking about the queerbaiting allegations and kissing a man on main. What the hell, sure."
"I'm queer and I'm so baited please give me more," another penned.
"Harry has never addressed a single thing like that in his whole life. Addressing the queer baiting allegations really was unexpected but, hell yeah finally people can shut up," a third added.
"Will be using the 'MAYBE YOU DON'T KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT ME DAD' lol. He keeps finding a way to let us know without telling us fr," a fourth wrote.
Now, Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally is Harry's fourth solo album and came out earlier this month.
"When you close certain doors off to protect yourself, you also shut out a lot of positive things," he told the BBC.
"So, I think, for me, it was about being more open, trusting [and] leaning into meeting new people and making new friends and going with the momentum of what it meant to say yes to things for a while.
"And it just really defined the record that I made. It was about me experiencing the world in a way that was different from how I'd experienced it for a long time.
"I think it's encouraging the audience to have their own experiences and and be open to the world."
Topics: Harry Styles, Celebrity
Anish Vij