'Queerbaiting' Discourse Rears Its Head Again After Kit Conner Outs Himself In Response To Criticism

Queerbaiting discourse has reared its head again after 18-year-old actor Kit Connor, who plays a bisexual character in the Netflix series Heartstopper but until recently had not come out as queer himself, came out as bisexual on Monday, implying he was "forced" to do so by a wave of social media hate.

The announcement generated a wave of sympathy and well-wishes for Connor, as many expressed it was unfair that he felt he had to come out as queer before he was ready.

Co-star Kizzy Edgell wrote, "I love u kit im sorry this has been so disgustingly rough on you. [You've] been treated so unfairly." Alice Oseman, the writer of the graphic novel Heartstopper is based on, also voiced her support and chided fans who forced Connor to come out.

The term "queerbaiting" is defined as a media property offering breadcrumbs suggesting that a character is queer but never actually making that explicit. It's often used to criticize shows with significant LGBTQ audiences in order to keep those audiences engaged but not risk alienating advertisers or more general audiences.

It began arising as viewers criticized shows like Supernatural and Sherlock, but in recent years, some have attempted to argue that certain celebrities have engaged in queerbaiting by not being open about their sexuality as they star in or create media that might have queer undertones.

This notably became a point of discussion when Billie Eilish released a music video for her song "Lost Cause," in which the singer danced with other women in their underwear. However, those who accused Eilish of "queerbaiting" with the video were met with pushback from people who argued that an individual cannot queerbait, nor do they owe the public openness about their sexuality.

Over the past year, a similar situation has unfolded with Connor. Some have demanded that Connor be publicly queer in order to validate the fact he is playing a queer character on TV (though notably, many have attempted to shut that argument down), and Connor has spoken about not wanting to discuss his sexuality publicly.

Things came to a head in September when he was photographed holding hands with Maia Reficco, causing the queerbaiting accusations to apparently get more intense. Connor also deleted his account amidst the drama.

Gutted to see that Kit has left Twitter due to queerbaiting accusations. He doesn't want to label his sexuality, which is entirely his choice plus – as the #Heartstopper comic itself says – 'it's very rude to speculate about people's sexuality'. Maybe people should remember that? https://t.co/OzWugptA2P

— PinkNews (@PinkNews) September 13, 2022

Now that Connor has come out as bisexual, many have rushed to his defense and chided fans for throwing pressure his way to come out. Currently, his tweet has nearly 1 million likes and has subsequently sparked massive discussion about how the LGBTQ community operates on the app.

accusing kit connor of queerbaiting people just bc he was seen w someone of the opposite sex is proof that you guys don’t consider bisexual people “queer enough” unless they’re dating the same sex

— kaelyn (@EDDIEBEGlNS) October 31, 2022

heartstopper was the first thing to make me feel safe and accepted as a bisexual person, and seeing that hstwt bullied kit connor into coming out is absolutely gut wrenching. that’s the one thing that nick nelson was afraid of, and you’ve done it to the person who imbodied him.

— bee 🍂 // kit connor defender , yr spoilers (@darcystrumpet) October 31, 2022

Kit Connor didn’t queerbait you Taylor Swift isn’t queerbaiting youHarry Styles isn’t queerbaiting youMisha Collins didn’t queerbait youREAL PEOPLE CANT QUEERBAIT YOU! It’s a term used in media literacy. No actual person owes you any clarification on their sexuality. PERIOD.

— Amber ✨Galaxy Con✨ 💕💜💙 (@Plaatje_Amber) November 1, 2022