Are you ever going about your day, having a fairly pleasant and uneventful one, but then stumble upon something that literally makes you want to strap yourself to a space rocket and vacate planet earth? No? Well if you read this excruciating Troye Sivan interview then you’ll know how we’re feeling!
The supposedly light and fluffy Q&A starts off on a tragically thirsty note, with the New Zealand journalist reminding Australian star Troye that the Kiwi accent was “voted the sexiest accent in the world”, before getting into “hard-hitting questions” about Troye’s celebrity crush, Shawn Mendes. What should be a ‘lol’, throwaway question about the heartthrob transforms into an invasion of privacy, with Troye being asked if his boyfriend, Jacob Bixenman, would give him a “hall pass” to get with the straight musician, which he politely swerves with a no before being asked if things got “too steamy” when Troye and Shawn came face-to-face. Christ.
It spirals even further, the journalist asking if Troye is following any “thirst trap” Instagrams, before culminating in a problematic question about his sexual position. “Definitely passing,” Troye replies.
Fans online picked up on the interview with Gay Express magazine and posted screenshots of the exchange on Twitter.. After it did the rounds of Sivan stan Twitter, Troye responded with the most articulate, knowing response:
“I thought about asking the interviewer about his absolute fave sex position after that last question, but then i remembered how wildly invasive, strange and inappropriate that would be,” he said, adding: “Didn’t stop him though!”
It’s flat out inappropriate for journalists to dive into another person’s sex life apropos of nothing — never mind in the context of a cute, semi-innocuous Q&A that also includes the question ‘Cats or dogs?’ Queer journalists in particular should know that sexualising everything only exacerbates pre-existing stereotypes: that queer people are guided by desire and nothing more. If you wouldn’t ask a straight person these questions, don’t bother asking a queer person them either.
Troye Sivan didn’t make one of the most beautiful, nuanced records about queer love of the century so far to be bombarded with questions about bottoming and lusting over Shawn Mendes. Ask him about the fact that he’s one of the most vocal public figures speaking out against bigotry in his community, or about his efforts to raise money for homeless LGBTQ+ youth, or about selling out fucking gigantic arenas in Asia. We are not entitled to mine the sex lives of celebrities just because we’re cut from the same cloth that they are.