It was the TikTok heard around the sapphic world. Julia Fox of “360” fame, who once famously told Ziwe she had a “gay bone,” caused quite a stir earlier this week by participating in a popular TikTok trend about spotting closeted lesbians in public with their boyfriends.
“I love when I see a lesbian with their boyfriend,” TikTok user emgwaciedawgie says in the original viral video. “It’s like ‘Aww, you hate that man. You literally hate him.’”
Fox then recorded a stitch in which she responded, “Hey, that was me. I was that lesbian. So sorry, boys. Won’t happen again.”
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Group chats everywhere began buzzing immediately. Our favourite outré it girls referring to herself as “that lesbian” is a real “where were you when” moment. Beneath the TikTok video, commenters reacted with shock, surprise, and heartfelt support, with many assuming that Fox had indeed come out as a lesbian. Emgwaciedawgie, in particular, was delighted, replying with, “i peaked.” (My personal favourite comment, though, might be: “WAKT WAIT WAUT WAIT WAIT.”)
I immediately performed my journalistic — no, my civic — duty by sending an email to Fox’s team asking for clarification, given the playful tone of the video. Now more than ever, celebrities are coming out in casual, subtle, and even whimsical ways, firing off quick Instagram posts, filming seemingly impromptu TikToks, or even posting a string of emojis. The only downside of that trend is that it can sometimes be difficult to tell when a public figure has indeed definitively come out.
Not that I wouldn’t believe Fox is a lesbian! In fact, ever since she told Ziwe in 2022 that she has been “thinking about [dating women] a lot recently,” I’ve been waiting for this day. It’s a simplistic sentiment, I know, but I can’t help but feel it: it’s just plain fun when someone really cool turns out to be gay. Between the “gay bone” comment and her experiences with political celibacy, Fox has long given off a distinctly non-normative vibe.
At the same time, based on the TikTok alone, I wouldn’t feel comfortable writing a headline like “Julia Fox Comes Out as a Lesbian,” even if I hedged my bets by adding a “Seemingly” or an “Appears to,” as many other outlets did. A single 15-second front-facing camera video delivered in a humourous cadence is still not enough — at least in my semi-professional opinion — to declare someone queer without their official confirmation. (As of this writing, Fox has not posted on social media since the TikTok in question.)
So instead of writing “Julia Fox Comes Out as a Lesbian,” we are instead publishing this blog about how my favourite Charli XCX collaborator set sapphic TikTok aflame and immediately fled the scene. Fox’s representatives did end up emailing me back on Tuesday afternoon. “No comment on our end,” they told me. Causing a massive commotion and then declining to engage? Honestly very queer-coded. And so Julia.
This article originally appeared on Them.