Fellas, is it gay for two men to show affection toward each other?
A clip of longtime friends Justin Bieber and Jaden Smith meeting up with each other during the first weekend of this year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is going viral. The video starts with Smith embracing Bieber from behind and having a cute little dance with him. Smith then joins the friend group Bieber is hanging out with, and Bieber gives Smith a kiss on the cheek.
Apparently, that’s all it took for the internet to be set ablaze with homophobic comments about this “gay” interaction between Bieber and Smith. Many commenters also had the audacity to compare this interaction to the recent claims against Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, the embattled rapper and producer who has recently been accused of rape, domestic violence, sexual assault, and sexual harassment, among other things.
On a repost of the video from @theshaderoom, comments include: “This the most diddyest diddyin that ever did diddy,” “Hollywood is a weird place man,” “When did grinding on each other become the new greeting between men? Can we go back to handshakes please,” and “A Bieber back hug followed by a Smith Smooch is freaky work.”
Comments under @pmwtv‘s post read, “Ain’t no real man walking up behind another man greeting him like that. That was geigh as hell,” “Why Justin kiss him like that,” “famous people are strange to say the very least,” and a GIF of Combs clapping at an awards show.
It should be noted that Bieber and Smith have known each other for over a decade. They first collaborated in 2010 on the Bieber track “Never Say Never,” which served as the theme song for the Smith-starring reboot of The Karate Kid.
Bieber has never identified as queer and has been married to wife Hailey Bieber since 2018. Smith has also never officially labeled himself as a part of the LGBTQ+ community. While he’s been a big ally over the years and experimented with gender-neutral clothing, neither of those things make him definitively queer.
Another layer in this story is that Bieber specifically attended Coachella this year because Tems brought him out for her set. Alternately, Smith went to the festival for fun, as so many celebrities do every year.
This video, which has now gone completely viral on the internet, was originally shared by photographer-videographer DayDay RED on Instagram.
Out has reached out to DayDay RED, Justin Bieber, and Jaden Smith for comment, but no response has been sent at the time of publishing.
Even in 2024, one kiss is all it takes for homophobes to share ridiculous statements in response to two men showing affection.