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<\/p>\nStephen Colbert Hoped Tyler the Creator Would Talk About Coming Out as Gay, But Only Got a Butt Grab: WATCH<\/b><\/p>\n
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Much of the talk leading up to the release of star rapper Tyler the Creator\u2019s new album Flower Boy has been that he appears to come out as gay in the album\u2019s lyrics<\/a>.<\/p>\n But unlike his friend Frank Ocean, who clarified his own coming out in follow-up interviews, Tyler has so far left the world speculating if he\u2019s actually coming out, or just gay<\/a>-baiting.<\/p>\n Stephen Colbert tried last night in an interview to push him toward\u00a0the topic but the closest he got was a quick spanking from the rapper, who arrived on the show wearing nothing but a pair of boxers.<\/p>\n We did learn a few other details about the 26-year-old\u2019s interests.<\/p>\n \u201cElizabeth Taylor is my jewelry idol,\u201d he told Colbert. \u201cHer use of coral is crazy. She\u2019s dead now though.\u201d<\/p>\n Said Colbert: \u201cBut diamonds are forever. Diamonds are forever.\u201d<\/p>\n And then we learned that Tyler knows nothing about Elizabeth Taylor aside from her outsize interest in jewelry.<\/p>\n \u201cDid you ever see National Velvet<\/em>?\u201d, Colbert asked.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat are you talking about?,\u201d Tyler said, to a stunned and bemused Colbert. \u201cShe was in a movie? I don\u2019t know all that stuff. I found a book one day lurking in Barnes and Nobles. It was like \u2018oh my god, this little white lady<\/a> got some nice stuff\u2019 and called it a day.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re going to love it, man<\/a>. Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf?<\/em> You\u2019re going to love it man<\/a>,\u201d Colbert exclaimed.<\/p>\n \u201cMan, these quotes are really going over my head man<\/a> right now,\u201d said Tyler.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s get together and watch some Elizabeth Taylor,\u201d said Colbert.<\/p>\n Replied Tyler, \u201cYou\u2019re asking me on a date?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m asking you on a date,\u201d said Colbert. And the next exchange might have gone over the head of anyone not familiar with the speculation about Tyler\u2019s sexual orientation. \u201cTell me about the new album. I want to hear about the new album.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s out<\/em>?\u201d replied Tyler.<\/p>\n Quipped Colbert: \u201cMany critics have said the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Watch:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Ben Beaumont-Thomas at The Guardian wonders if he\u2019s coming out or just being a queer-baiting provocateur<\/a>?<\/p>\n But what are we really witnessing here? Is this a young man<\/a>\u2019s earnest struggle to come to terms with his sexuality in a public forum, awkwardly using humor as a defense mechanism to protect himself from a potentially unforgiving rap community? Or is this just another example of a button-pushing attention-seeker, ridiculing the gay<\/a> experience for puerile effect? Without explicit clarification from Tyler himself, it\u2019s difficult to define exactly what\u2019s at play.<\/p>\n In the past, when he\u2019s been questioned about his sexuality, his answers have been able to fit into either school of thought, although probably more easily into the latter. In\u00a0a Rolling Stone profile from 2015<\/a>, the journalist Ernest Baker noted the constant references to being gay<\/a> amid the banter of Tyler and his entourage, causing him to wonder what exactly was at the root. When queried about it, he claimed to be \u201cgay<\/a> as fuck<\/a>\u201d and said his friends were used to him \u201cbeing gay<\/a>\u201d, but when asked outright, he denied it.<\/p>\n There\u2019s clearly something fetishistic for Tyler about homosexuality and the latest bout of gay<\/a> references could just be a more tempered iteration of calling everyone a faggot or equating gay<\/a> with stupid. It\u2019s a different way of poking (his justification for using the word faggot was that it\u00a0\u201chits and hurts people\u201d<\/a>) and the delivery has been formatted to make it more palatable for a wider audience. He\u2019s made it clear in the past that more mainstream success is of high importance to him.\u00a0In a recent chat with Zane Lowe<\/a>, he revealed that he was keen to get Nicki Minaj on the second verse of I Ain\u2019t Got Time to open his music up to a new audience while also tweeting that he wanted a No 1 album \u201csooooo bad\u201d. I\u2019m not pushing the cynical idea that Tyler has \u201cgone gay<\/a>\u201d to achieve the commercial success of Ocean, but his messaging has clearly been tailored to avoid limiting breakout appeal.<\/p>\n Watch Tyler perform \u201c911\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The post Stephen Colbert Hoped Tyler the Creator Would Talk About Coming Out as Gay, But Only Got a Butt Grab: WATCH<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad<\/a>.<\/p>\nRELATED:\u00a0Is Tyler the Creator Coming Out as Gay on His New Album? The Internet is Buzzing<\/a><\/em><\/h2>\n
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