Odell Beckham, Jr. Phenomenon: Why Gays Shouldn't Support the Media Trying to "Out" Hi

In case you've been hiding under a rock: over the past couple weeks, the extreme hotness that is Odell Beckham, Jr. has come under a lot of fire because of his free-spiritedness. He has been called gay on almost every blog, network and publication because of what perceptually looks as if he is looking at another player's ass and many, many questionable acts. I still stand on the side of not knowing if the man is gay. I won't lie and say I dont care or I'm not intrigued because if this man is gay, not only would he be an ideal role model based on his success and masculinity for men like me but also he is O.V.A.H.! Just for arguments sake, check out the picture in question. I will say, it does look "interesting" but we are only seeing it from one angle. Either way, here it goes:

In case you missed some of the other moments, check out this article featured on Bossip (click here).

Still, I'm saddened by this thing I have characterized as the "Odell Beckham, Jr. Phenomenon". In my mind, this is characterized by a hyper masculine individual who is free spirited and decides to explore things that can be considered feminine or girly. Most of the media frenzy has continued because he has done some questionable dance videos, taken some interesting pictures and danced like a ballerina on the football field. So, I know you're probably saying that makes him "gay".

Before you begin to completely discount him being a straight man, let me establish why I find this so offensive.

Sometime around 2009, the term "That's so gay!" came out which basically meant that what you were doing was dumb, stupid or retarded. It meant that you or whatever the subject was going against the cultural norms of society and thereby making you "gay". It didn't mean that you were sexually involved with a man-- just that you were dumb.

Then, there was "No Homo". This was even worse. It basically says that you're doing something that could be considered "gay" but you didn't want to be thought of as homosexual. For instance, you give a dude a compliment like, "Hey, them shoes are hott, bro. #NOHOMO." Basically, it was saying that men couldn't be open, honest or caring about the next dude without questioning his sexuality.

In essence, there were a lot of people that said "That's so gay!" or #NOHOMO that didn't look at it or mean it to be homophobic. In the same way, we have come to embrace "that's my nigga or that's my bitch" as a colloquial term that simply means we are friends-- they "changed" or "recreated" the definition. Unfortunately, just because you locally change something doesn't mean universally that the definition has changed. We consistently see people that "misuse" all of these terms based on their own phobias or prejudices.

You see definitions can be redefined, but the original definition will still stand. Just because we give it new meaning doesn't take it from how it was created.

So fast forward. Now, we have Odell Beckham, Jr.: a very attractive, very successful, high profile NFL player. He is free- spirited and does his job on the field extremely well (that is except this past game). He is also hyper masculine. Because of his uninhibited behavior mostly in his free time (except the "booty look" on the field which is, to me, from an awkward visual spot, again), he is considered to be gay.

Now, I'm cool with him being considered gay by gay men because we either want someone of his caliber to be a "role model" for us and/or are trying to stalk all the places he frequents to see if we can bend over on a field and get him to check out our ass. Lol! What I'm concerned about is what that really means universally. At no point is it okay to subject someone to have to publicly examine their sexuality based on some sense of prejudices or homophobia. Further, if this man is gay and has decided to stay in the closet, that's his business. To go a step further, if they criticize people like this before coming out (as most of us were before our announcement was made-- whether forced or presented), then why do you think it would be an opportune situation to do it in the first place-- just for our obsession with pop culture?

I reposted the Bossip blog on my personal Facebook account a couple weeks ago about Odell; one of the straight guys, Ricky Smith, that I went to high school with made a great point from a heteronormative perspective. He said, "I think the nature of sports lends to the machismo aspect...Then, football is a very violent game. Most people think violence equals aggression equals masculinity equals opposite of being a gay man."

So, what are we unconsciously agreeing to when we are supporting all these streams of media that are, more often than not, for a straight audience in their saying that, "He's gay"? To me our agreement is that we are subpar, dumb, can't have any masculine tendencies and are opposite of a "man".

That's not cool to me.

I ain't with that. I don't have to be in any box because I'm gay and I also don't have to be out of a box, either. Annnnnddd, although he could possibly be "gay", I'm not supporting anyone who is calling him that in a derogatory way. Hell, if he is gay then welcome him to some of the most talented, creative and successful MEN on earth. If he's not, accept that he is eye candy-- the women will still see him as fine as fuck, secretly-- even though they want him to be public. Why can't we? Ha!

-The Normal Anomaly