You fools. Dragging Kit Connor out of the closet has only made him more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
Connor, the breakout star of Netflix’s queer romance Heartstopper, joined the cast of Audible’s Oliver Twist audiobook, directed by Sam Mendes and released this Tuesday. Connor, who plays against type as the sniveling bully Noah Claypole, performs alongside stars including Daniel Kaluuya and Brian Cox (as Bill Sikes and Fagin, respectively) in the adaptation.
Connor came out as bisexual in October after experiencing Twitter harassment from Heartstopper fans who accused him of “queerbaiting” by playing a bi character while closeted. “i’m bi. congrats for forcing an 18 year old to out himself. i think some of you missed the point of the show,” Connor Tweeted in October before deleting his account.
Now that he is out, though, Connor is already speaking his mind about issues facing the LGBTQ+ community. At a virtual Critics’ Choice Awards panel this week, addressing his character Nick’s storyline in the first season of Heartstopper, Connor said he thinks bisexual representation in media — especially for bi men — is “shockingly low.”
“It is shocking because a huge amount of the LGBTQIA+ community is made up of bisexual people, it’s a huge community, but we don’t get much representation,” Connor said, adding that “it was a real pleasure to be able to kind of portray that journey and those experiences” as Nick.
“Playing those kind[s] of moments…it sort of felt like the main arc of the character, if that makes sense,” he explained. “Because it’s not just so much working out whether you are a boy who’s attracted to another boy, it’s also discovering whether or not everything he’s previously thought about his sexuality is suddenly invalid or it’s something he wants to still acknowledge. And I think that’s something that isn’t seen very often.”
Truly, Kit Connor is becoming the bi rep we deserve in this world — and his haters really need to learn what queerbaiting actually is.
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