Why Harry Styles Fans Want To Cancel Olivia Wilde For Comment About ‘Coming Out Of The Closet’
Harry Styles Twitter stans target singer's girlfriend after digging up old interview.
Getty Cancel culture Twitter was ablaze this morning after Harry Styles fans discovered an old "Off Camera" interview with his current girlfriend, Olivia Wilde.
Speaking with Sam Jones, Wilde equated becoming a director with coming out of the closet.
The actress and filmmaker hasn’t expressly disclosed how she identifies her own sexuality, but has often hinted at the prospect of being bisexual or pansexual. She has also played bisexual characters on shows "House" and "The O.C."
In 2019, Wilde, 37, directed her first movie, "Booksmart," a witty coming-of-age film featuring a lesbian lead.
Why do Harry Styles fans want to cancel Olivia Wilde?
Shortly after the movie’s release, Wilde did the "Off Camera" interview, in which she said:
“I almost feel like someone who’s come out of the closet. There’s this feeling of honesty about what I really want to do, and it’s a level of comfort that comes from being true to yourself that I haven’t felt in a long time.”
Twitter users included this with an out-of-context quote from another interview Wilde did after divorce from ex-husband, Tao Ruspoli.
In the interview, she says she considered “a soft kind of lesbian relationship.”
Compiled in a tweet with a bait-and-switch caption, one could potentially take her quotes out of context and believe that her statements were harmful.
In a 2016 interview with The Advocate, Wilde revealed that lesbian fans would write to her, asking her if she was OK with playing bisexual characters and if she was afraid it would hurt her career.
"Other people said, 'If you always play gay, people will think you’re gay. You should be careful.' Careful of what? Evolution?"
She also brought up her son, Otis (who is now 7), and said she hopes that by the time he grows up that sexual labels won’t mean anything anymore.
The truth is that no one is entitled to know the details of someone’s sexuality.
We do not need to know those personal details of Olivia Wilde’s life in order to understand that she considers herself an ally.
Despite that, there is a divide between fans of Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde as well as the LGBTQ+ community specifically because of taking the phrase "coming out of the closet" and applying it to her profession.
Those against Wilde are claiming that she is trivializing the process of coming out by comparing it to something as simple as a career change and that it’s invalidating as a (presumably) straight person who doesn’t understand how much of a struggle that process actually is.
On the other side of the divide, people don’t really see the big deal.
Some recognize that she very well might be queer and that she’s just very happy about the realization she made in her career, painting the process of coming out as a huge relief.
The verdict for many on Twitter is that this was all started by Harry Styles "stans" inadvertently sparking a debate about whether or not sexual labels really matter when it comes to these types of sensitive topics, showing the harm that assumptions can make.
This all comes out after rumors that Harry Styles is now dating "The Policeman" co-star Emma Corrin after the singer was seen filming a scene where they embrace each other in a kiss — rumors that were quickly shot down by sources close to Wilde saying that their relationship is still going strong and that the on-set PDA doesn’t bother her.
This trend is likely not to bother her either as she’s currently in London, busy filming her new movie, "Perfect," a biopic about gymnast Kerri Strug.
Isaac Serna is a writer who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice and relationships.