Super Bowl performer Charlie Puth queerbaiting claims and how he hit back
Charlie Puth. (JC Olivera/Variety via Getty Images)
With the Super Bowl taking place today (Sunday 8 February) we’re looking back at Charlie Puth’s response to ‘queerbaiting’ accusations.
The “We Don’t Talk Anymore” singer, 34, is performing the national anthem at the Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California with other performances from Brandi Carlile, Coco Jones, Green Day, and of course, Bad Bunny at the Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show.
Famous for songs such as “Attention”, “Left and Right”, and “Loser”, Puth has been a frequent feature in the pop charts since 2009 collaborating with artists like Little Mix, Meghan Trainor and Selena Gomez.
As such, Puth’s music has always been adjacent to queer community. Puth boosted his allure by sharing some rather cheeky (pun intended) Instagram pics and TikToks in recent years. Some have welcomed it all while others have accused the singer-songwriter of ‘queerbaiting’.
The term refers to when someone or something presents as being queer without actually identifying as such.
Discussing his thirst traps and working out videos with GQ in 2022, Puth explained that in the then post break-up life: “I am very horny. All the time.” He added: “These gym sessions are expensive in LA!” as reason for showing off, hardly the first person to show their body off online.
Maintaining that he didn’t want “to antagonise anybody”, Puth discussed using queer culture as inspiration. The singer said “Loser” from his album Charlie, is an example of this, inspired by observing queer people dancing to Madonna.
“I think LGBTQ+ culture is so ahead of its time, culturally, sonically, musically, everything-ly that when I had a less than perfect song at the studio and I was by myself and I saw everybody having a great time, I literally heard a different song in my head,” Puth told GQ. He added: “I rearranged the whole thing. I drove back to the studio, I was so inspired.”
The singer-songwriter also shared how Madonna’s “Into the Groove” inspired his song “There’s A First Time For Everything”. He said: “I wanted to [recapture] the feeling that it gave people in 1985 when they first heard that song. I was just thinking of a bunch of scenarios where music could be played in the background.”
Puth is also not the first person to have to address accusations of ‘queerbaiting’. Harry Styles, Bad Bunny, and Kit Connor have all drawn ‘queerbaiting’ accusations, a wave of pressure that led Connor to come out publicly.
Heated Rivalry‘s Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams recently faced similar claims themselves. Responding to them, Williams told Deadline it was part of “the nature of celebrity”, and that he had to “let go” of people making assumptions about him.
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