Billie Eilish Accused Of Queerbaiting After Hanging Out With Girls In Music Video

People are very inquisitive about the sexuality of Billie Eilish during the promotion of her recent single. The young singer recently put out her music video for "Lost Cause," an anti-ex anthem that features Eilish having a slumber party with some girlfriends.

She also posted some behind-the-scenes photos from the video's shoot captioned "I love girls."

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A post shared by BILLIE EILISH (@billieeilish)

The video and the post combined have made people very frustrated that Eilish has not commented on her sexuality, with some accusing Eilish of queerbaiting. Queerbaiting, as its defined in Claiming The B In LGBT, is "a marketing technique for fiction and entertainment in which creators hint at, but then do not actually depict, same-sex romance or other LGBTQ+ representation."

if billie eilish says she's straight after this music vid ima be mad asf bc that's straight queerbaiting pic.twitter.com/cnUfk1wHmq

— lizzie ᖭི༏ᖫྀ (@llzziie) June 6, 2021

did billie eilish just freaking come out ?!&@^#&
istg if this is another case of queerbaiting i'm suing pic.twitter.com/CSyMJFm0KF

— स्नेहा wants to hide and never come back. (@snehaaxd) June 10, 2021

the new billie eilish mv is queerbaiting no matter which way you look at it if she’s not wlw. stop defending her. “that’s just how friends act!” i hate to break it to you but i don’t look at my female friends like i’m in love w them at sleepovers and lay half naked on top of them

— jam ⚢ sae brainrot (@shuouichi) June 9, 2021

While some were on the alert for a celebrity being potentially problematic, others argued that "queerbaiting" can't be done by actual people. The term is academically applied to fictional characters and works of fiction that may make reference to homosexuality but is not explicit in the text; a textbook example of queerbaiting would be J.K. Rowling announcing that Albus Dumbledore was gay years after the books were published. The Korrasami ship in Avatar: The Last Airbender has been cited as an example of queerbaiting, as characters Kora and Asami Sato did not engage in homosexual romance until the last episode of the series.

i think it should be used for fictional characters not real people and especially not 18 year olds trying to grow up with eyes of the world on everything they do

— bich (@saoirse_idk) June 13, 2021

Might be a hot take but if Billie Eilish wants to dance around and feel sexy with other women, that’s not queer baiting

— Pheen 🌱 (@Pheenips) June 13, 2021

no cause this whole whole billie eilish “queerbaiting” thing shows how privileged and disconnected from actual problems some young lgbt people are… all that girl said was “i love girls” and y’all are writing think pieces 😭

— salem from rome (@oomfisdead) June 13, 2021

Eilish has publicly dated men in the past and has not clarified her sexuality.