NOV-8-2024
Words by: Angelica Santini
Eilish has practically grown up in the public eye, cast into the spotlight when she was just 14-years-old after releasing “Ocean Eyes,” her first hit single. Since then, she has faced queerbaiting allegations at many points throughout her career, but they became especially prominent with the promotion of her “Lost Cause” music video in 2021.
In the hypersexualized, sleepover-style music video, Billie and her back-up dancers are seen in a luxurious, mansion backdrop, posing and dancing together suggestively. Viewers were quick to notice the sapphic vibe of the choreography, with some fans speculating that this was her hinting at “coming out,” while others accused her of queerbaiting. What really cemented the queerbaiting allegations, however, seemed to be an Instagram post from Eilish herself: a slide of behind-the-scenes shots from the production of the “Lost Cause” music video, captioned, “I love girls.”
These accusations, according to her brother Finneas, were a big factor in her decision to come out as bisexual in an interview for Variety magazine in late 2023. Despite this, she continues to be labeled as a queerbaiter. In a now-deleted viral TikTok responding to Eilish’s Guess remix with Charli XCX, Eilish is accused of “queerbaiting for commercial gain.” Eilish’s brother Finneas came to her defense in the comments, voicing his frustration at having to watch his sister get “slammed for queerbaiting,” when in reality, she was being “[forced] to label and out herself.” Even so, comments from internet users surrounding the Guess music video have been littered with things like, “nice baiting billie,” and, “queerbaiting fr.”
Where did the term queerbaiting even come from?
The concept of “queerbaiting” was not initially intended to apply to real-life people. The term started circulating in the 2010s through social media and internet forums to discuss fictional characters in media. It originally acknowledged a tactic used by creators or producers in film and television to insinuate LGBTQ+ relationships between characters without ever actually showing them. In this way, though two same-sex characters may appear to be developing romantic feelings for each other, canonically, they will only ever have heterosexual love interests. Think Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman’s Sherlock and Watson, or Buffy and Faith in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”; the innuendos were fruitful, but the relationships themselves would stay inert.
In this way, media can attract a queer audience, without alienating a more conservative one. However, since the 2020s, through short-form social media such as TikTok and Reels, the term seems to have been expanded to encompass actual people — especially celebrities. From what we’ve seen with Eilish, this new iteration of the term can be extremely harmful to queer people who have recently come out or are exploring their identities.
What is particularly nefarious is how people online appear to be casting doubt on Eilish’s sexuality because she has expressed attraction toward both men and women. In a now-deleted TikTok from 2021, user @ellasdoingwell called Eilish the “perfect artist for girls who pretend they’re bi for an aesthetic.” More recently, there appears to be confusion about how Billie has had a boyfriend while also talking about being attracted to girls.
This rhetoric is bi-erasure. It completely ignores the fact that bisexuality is valid, regardless of if someone has or had a partner of the opposite sex. Eilish isn’t even the only bisexual celebrity forced to come out after queerbaiting allegations, either. “Heartstopper” actor Kit Connor suffered the same fate in 2022, where, after relentless online scrutiny, he came out as bisexual and deleted his twitter account. Cardi B also faced backlash after her music video with singer Normani, after which she tweeted that she felt as though queerbaiting accusations “pressure artists to talk about their sexuality,” but confirmed her bisexuality in a
later tweet.
Despite all this, Eilish’s previous candor about her sexuality has been impactful and meaningful for young queer women, with Dazed magazine lauding her track “Lunch” as part of the Lesbian Renaissance. It’s a shame that the constant accusations of queerbaiting and speculation about her sexuality has meant that Eilish isn’t able to enjoy these moments of self-discovery. It seems as if being bisexual can subject women to a multifaceted array of scrutiny — from the general misogyny and sexualization of being a woman in a same-sex relationship, to being invalidated when expressing interest in a man. Hopefully in the future, Eilish and the representation she brings can be celebrated rather than erased and minimized.