Harry Styles turned the stage at Saturday Night Live into his own cheeky rebuttal booth, poking fun at years of “queerbaiting” accusations — and sealing the joke with an unexpected onstage kiss with comedian Ben Marshall.
“Back then, people seemed to pay a lot of attention to the clothes I was wearing and some people accused me of something called ‘queerbaiting,’” the former One Direction singer said of the claims, which was defined as using queer aesthetics without identifying as LGBTQ+, Page Six reported.
“But did it ever occur to you: You don’t know everything about me, Dad!” he added.
Styles, 32, said he was “tremendously boring” and that “people pretend to find that [his hobbies] interesting” because he was a celebrity.
“It’s better than the alternative,” the pop star joked, as the screen showed the infamous paparazzi snap of ex-Prince Andrew after he was released from jail last month for his connections to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Styles said he was “happy” to be back at work with his new album, “Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally.”
“What’s better than kissing all the time? Which I don’t actually do — I don’t kiss all the time,” he said, as comedian Chloe Fineman appeared behind the Watermelon Sugar” before leaving in disappointment.
“Sometimes, kissing can be great,” Styles added, “you know, if you’re really good at it, and you’re a good person,” as comedian Sarah Sherman appeared and then walked off.
“Or if you have a tight little bum,” the “Late Night Talking” crooner continued, as Marshall, 30, walked onstage.
After the comedian and Styles joked about Marshall’s “wagon back there,” they turned to each other and shared a kiss on the lips.
“Now that’s queerbaiting,” the three-time Grammy said with a wink.
In 2022, Styles slammed the “queerbaiting” claims after fans noticed that he only publicly dated women — including Oliva Wilde, Taylor Swift and now Zoë Kravitz.
“I don’t think I’ve publicly been with anyone,” he told Rolling Stone at the time. “If someone takes a picture of you with someone, it doesn’t mean you’re choosing to have a public relationship or something.”
