Bohemian Rhapsody has been attacked for stigmatising the singer’s sexuality – but as a gay man and LGBTQI campaigner, I see a job well done
The XS-sized racerback white vest, tucked into tight stonewashed jeans. That tash. The homoerotic S&M leather armband. The masc-drag. The colourful flamboyance. The fact that this era’s biggest gay icon, Lady Gaga, named herself after one of his band’s songs. Freddie Mercury wasn’t just a gay icon. He was the gay icon.
So with his status so definitive, why did Rami Malek – who plays him in the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody – all but deny it when asked? It may have to do with the PR briefing he was given for the roll-out of this strictly PG film, so as to appeal to the widest possible audience. But this was Malek’s opportunity to put to bed once and for all the allegations levelled against the movie: that it’s a form of queer or bi erasure; that it sanitises Mercury’s sexual orientation; that it’s a moralising tale in which evil gays lead poor Freddie astray into the world of S&M, disco, cocaine and seedy basement rooms, ultimately resulting in his Aids-related death.
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