Why is Timothée Chalamet hailed as a bisexual icon?

Timothee Chalamet in a suit on the red carpet - the suit is white with black lapels

Despite being straight (as far as we know) and in a very high profile relationship with Kylie Jenner, Timothée Chalamet is regularly hailed as a queer, bisexual – or sometimes even lesbian icon. But why?

His reputation probably stems from his breakout film, Call Me By Your Name, a sexual coming of age story where Chalamet plays 17-year-old Elio, in love with 24-year-old graduate student Oliver. It was hailed as one of the best films of 2017, not least because of the famous *peach scene*.

The movie famously led to Timothée Chalamet being christened ‘Hollywood’s Straight Prince of Twinks’.

Timothee Chalamet pictured playing Elio in a scene from Call Me By Your Name. He is shirtless, standing in a river and wearing sunglasses.
Timothée Chalamet in Call Me By Your Name (Sony Pictures)

“So how does it feel to be the straight prince of twinks?” Timothée Chalamet was asked during a 2019 press junket for Little Women, a film in which he plays Saoirse Ronan’s romantic interest, Laurie. “And to be so beloved of the queer community?” added the interviewer for Out magazine.

“I hoped it like, the fans of the book would see it basically, so what it’s done in any regard like that why or that it could present a version of love that people don’t understand to be niche or whatever, that isn’t prosecuted or persecuted, that it’s just a thing,” he replied.

Timothée Chalamet is also a die-hard LGBTQ+ ally

Timothee Chalamet and co-star Taylor Russell on the Bones And All red carpet in Venice. (Rocco Spaziani/Archivio Spaziani/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)

As well as being thrilled to be dubbed the straight prince of the twinks, he’s also shown support to the LGBTQ+ community in other ways, perhaps most notably giving $1000 to New York’s LGBTQI Center at the 2019 Golden Globes. He was told in an interview on the red carpet that he could give the money to a charity of his choice, and he made that choice immediately.

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The year before that, the star vowed to donate the entire fee for his part in Woody Allen’s movie A Rainy Day in New York to charities including New York’s LGBT Community Centre.

He said he took the step because he didn’t want to “profit” from working with Allen, whose adopted daughter Dylan Farrow has accused the Annie Hall director of sexually assaulting her when she was seven.

His bisexual style

Firstly, let’s talk about that haircut. Timothée Chalamet has a rakish, floppy, not-short-but-not-long style that just screams ‘that girl you were in love with in 2009’.

Timothée Chalamet may not be bisexual, but his hair definitely is.

Then there are his outfits. Let’s not forget the time Timothée rocked up to the Golden Globes in what can only be described as a glittery sex harness. Prince of the twinks, indeed.

Timothee Chalamet at the 2019 Golden Globes
He might not be bisexual, but this outfit is (Getty)

At the end of the day, we LGBTQ+s all love a celebrity ally: and a stylish, attractive one to boot. We’re happy for Timothée Chalamet to remain a bisexual icon, as long as he keeps blessing us with looks like this.

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