Harry Styles Responds To 'Queerbaiting' Accusations

Harry Styles is gracing Rolling Stone's September cover in a big way. The artist is the long-running music magazine's first-ever global cover star. In his cover story interview, Styles discussed the strange world of exploring romance and sexuality when you're in the public eye.

“I’ve never talked about my life away from work publicly and found that it’s benefited me positively,” Styles explained. “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.”

Writer Brittany Spanos gave readers who aren't in the fandom community on Twitter some context: "Drawing the curtain over his life has only made everyone who’s not behind it more curious. His sexuality, for example, has been a topic of near-obsession for years. He has embraced gender fluidity in his fashion, like Mick Jagger and David Bowie before him, and has repeatedly pointed out how backward it feels to require labels and boxes for everyone’s identity." Spanos continued, "Critics of his approach have accused him of “queerbaiting,” or profiting off queer aesthetics without explicitly claiming the community. Defenders feel it’s unfair to force anyone to label themselves as one thing in order to validate their gender or creative expression."

To respond to this Harry said, “Sometimes people say, ‘You’ve only publicly been with women,’ and I don’t think I’ve publicly been with anyone. If someone takes a picture of you with someone, it doesn’t mean you’re choosing to have a public relationship or something.” Despite not talking about it, Harry has been seen out with his current girlfriend actor/director Olivia Wilde. Just last week the internet freaked out after paparazzi snapped photos of the couple on a date night. Still, most of the knowledge about the couple comes from outside sources and paparazzi/fan photos taken during public outings.

Styles will also star in the upcoming film My Policeman, which involves a gay romance in the 1950s.