9-1-1 showrunner divides fans with statement about ‘Buddie’: ‘Queerbaiting us again and again’
Buck (R) and Eddie’s (L) very close friendship often has people talking. (ABC/Canva)
Buck (R) and Eddie's (L) very close friendship often has people talking. (ABC/Canva)
The showrunner behind queer favourite procedural drama 9-1-1 has caused a stir within the fandom for comments made about the show’s most-shipped couple, ‘Buddie’.
Speaking to The Washington Post, Tim Minear reflected on the relationship between Buck Buckley (Oliver Stark) and Eddie Diaz (Ryan Guzman), best pals who have long been seen by a large chunk of the fandom as lovers-in-waiting.
For multiple seasons now, 9-1-1 has seemingly inched towards making the pair a couple, with other characters commenting on their closeness and how they appear as a family. In season seven, Buck also realised that he is bisexual after kissing Tommy (Lou Ferrigno Jr.) – his now-ex boyfriend – which fuelled the flames of fans wanting Buddie to become a reality.
In season eight, Tommy and Maddie explicitly wondered whether Buck was in love with his long-term, very close friend.
However, despite the potential romance being teased time and again, Buck and Eddie remain just intensely close, erm, buddies.
Asked about their dynamic, Minear suggested that doesn’t think 9-1-1 should focus on Buck and Eddie getting together, even though he considers himself a fan of them as a couple.
“It is a very difficult subject because I love the Buddie fans, and I am one of them,” he said.
“It’s different than Heated Rivalry, where that is the show — the show is about those two guys getting together. That’s not what this show is,” he added.
“This will probably p**s off people, but whatever, this is what I think. I think the possibility of [Buddie] is what’s exciting.”
On social media, Minear’s comments have sparked both excitement and agitation among the 9-1-1 fandom, with some interpreting his latter statement – that it’s the idea of ‘Buddie’ that is is most tantalizing – as evidence that the show’s creative team are “queerbaiting” the audience.
“Did he straight up admit to enjoying queerbaiting/buddiebaiting the fans!?! Like I guess we all pretty much knew this [at this point] – but he actually said the [quiet] part out loud this time,” wrote one fan on X, formerly Twitter.
“Saying the possibility of Buddie getting together is what makes it exciting, like he’s fully just saying he enjoys the queer bait of it all,” raged a second a fan.
A third agreed: “He really just admitted to enjoying queerbaiting people with Buddie.”
The term ‘queerbaiting’ refers to a marketing technique by storytellers whereby they drop numerous hints that a character or relationship could be queer in order to attract and maintain the attention of an LGBTQ+ audience, without canonically confirming the character’s sexuality or gender identity.
Other fans hit out at what they felt was the suggestion that Buddie fans want to turn 9-1-1 into a steamy gay romance à la Heated Rivalry.
“Nobody’s asking him to turn the procedural show into a romance only Buddie focused,” one viewer eye-rolled. “We just want them to have their love storyline… it’s not so difficult.
Another agreed: “Really confused as to what made him think we want 9-1-1 to be a romance show that only focuses on Buddie.”
On the other hand, some 9-1-1 viewers were just happy to be vindicated in their insistence that there’s a spark between Buck and Eddie.
“I do think we have ignored the obvious elephant in Tim’s statement which is him outright confirming that Buddie has been intentionally written with the possibility of romance implied and therefore no one can ever call us delusional again,” one fan urged on X.
Another Buddie shipper took Minear’s words as hope that Buddie could soon become canon: “Tim Minear comparing Buddie to Heated Rivalry and saying the possibility of Buddie is exciting, everybody wake the f*** up???”
9-1-1 returns for the second installment of season nine on 8 January on ABC in the US. A UK release is expected on Disney+ in the coming weeks.
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