Billie Eilish has called out Variety, who she’s accused of outing her on a red carpet after the publication referred to comments she made in a November profile.
The “Bad Guy” singer took to Instagram to call the publication out, in a post about her time on the red carpet at Variety‘s Hitmaker Event.
“Thanks Variety for my award and also for outing me on a red carpet at 11am instead of talking about anything else that matters,” Eilish posted on Instagram, alongside photos of her red carpet look.
“I like boys and girls leave me alone about it please literally who cares stream ‘what was I made for’.”
Her comments appear to be a swipe at a question Variety asked her on the red carpet, about whether she had “intended” to come out in her Variety cover profile in November.
“No I didn’t,” Eilish answered.
“But I kind of thought, ‘Wasn’t it obvious’? I didn’t realize people didn’t know. I just don’t really believe in it. I’m just like, ‘Why can’t we just exist’? I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I just didn’t talk about it. Whoops.
“But I saw the article, and I was like, ‘Oh I guess I came out today.’ OK cool. It’s exciting to me because I guess people didn’t know, but it’s cool that they know.”
“I am for the girls,” she added.
Did Billie Eilish Actually Come Out To Variety?
In November, Variety published a profile about Billie Eilish in which it quoted her saying she was attracted to women.
“I’ve never really felt like I could relate to girls very well,” Eilish said in the piece.
“I love them so much. I love them as people. I’m attracted to them as people. I’m attracted to them for real.”
She then went on to say she has a deep love for the women in her life.
“I have deep connections with women in my life, the friends in my life, the family in my life. I’m physically attracted to them. But I’m also so intimidated by them and their beauty and their presence.”
Eilish’s sexuality has been under intense scrutiny for years — fans accused her of queer-baiting after she released her “Lost Cause” music video in 2021.
However, Eilish responded by posting images of herself posing with women with the caption: “I love girls”.
Some took this to be an admission that the star is bisexual, while others felt it wasn’t a clear enough post and could have just been a show of appreciation towards her friends.
It’s a complicated issue, since fans often want reassurance they aren’t being queer baited, but this pressure can often lead to intense power imbalances. (See: Heartstopper’s Kit Connor, who unwillingly came out publicly as bisexual due in response to accusations of queerbaiting. “I’m bi,” he wrote on Twitter. “Congrats for forcing an 18-year-old to out himself.“)
It’s hard to know who will feel what about it, but maybe we should interrogate why we feel entitled to that information in the first place.
Image: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic via Getty Images
