Netflix’s Bridgerton accused of queerbaiting and ‘deceiving’ fans after teasing gay sex scenes

New Netflix period drama Bridgerton has been accused of queerbaiting after highlighting gay sex in its trailer but avoiding queer storylines.

The Regency era show has been hugely popular since its release on Christmas Day, but viewers have been disappointed by the lack of queer content.

The initial teaser trailer for Bridgerton highlighted a character walking in on a gay couple, leading fans to think that an LGBT+ storyline would be prominent in the show.

On the show’s release, it became apparent that the sex scene was from the fifth episode of the series and featured a minor character, prompting fans to ask if it was included in the trailer to queerbait audiences.

The audacity of #Bridgerton queerbaiting me for 8 episodes

— Charlotte Dunne (@CharlotteDunne) December 29, 2020

One viewer wrote on Twitter: “Quite happily binged Bridgerton, which is great by the way, but (spoilers) whoever edited the trailer should be exiled from polite society for queerbaiting.

“Like, I was going to watch it anyway, no need to mislead me into thinking there’d be a decent gay storyline if there isn’t.”

They added: “If your trailer is 30 seconds long and you devote several of those precious seconds to guys f**king you can be damn sure I expect a plot line or heck at least a substantial amount of peripheral homo-ballyhoo.”

if your trailer is 30 seconds long and you devote several of those precious seconds to guys fucking you can be damn sure I expect a plotline or heck at least a substantial amount of peripheral homo-ballyhoo— Oliver Darkshire ? (@deathbybadger) December 26, 2020

“Bridgerton literally has such little gay content, boring, I feel deceived,” said another.

bridgerton literally has such little gay content boring i feel deceived- #Bridgerton #bridgertonnetflix pic.twitter.com/DZbiaKnCyX— M (@sstanmiyeon) December 25, 2020

Fans felt that one character, Benedict Bridgerton played by Luke Thompson, showed signs throughout the show of being LGBT+ and were disappointed that his storyline ended with a straight relationship.

One person said: “Bridgerton so convincingly foreshadows a scene where a character reveals he’s gay that when the character turns out to be straight it feels like a plot hole.”

bridgerton so convincingly foreshadows a scene where a character reveals hes gay that when the character turns out to be straight it feels like a plot hole— no identity only gender confusion (@cc5052_bly) December 27, 2020

Another wrote: “Just finished Bridgerton and like, I really enjoyed it but them making Benedict seemingly straight after essentially queerbaiting with him doesn’t sit right with me.”