Billie Eilish has declared she “loves girls” after she was accused of queerbaiting in the music video for her new song “Lost Cause”.
The star was criticised over her “Lost Cause” video, which shows the singer at a slumber party with a group of girls, dancing, eating whipped cream, playing Twister and rolling around on top of each other.
After the video’s release, one fan wrote on Twitter: “Is Billie Eilish bi? Or did I just watch four minutes of queerbaiting done by a straight person.”
While other fans insisted that the video simply showed “friends having fun at a sleepover”, the same Twitter user added: “I think why a lot of people are saying that it’s ‘just friends having a sleepover’ is because sapphic relationships aren’t really viewed as relationships… If this was done with dudes, the reactions would’ve been different.”
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
no you saw friends having fun in a sleepover and that’s all. it’s not that deep
— . (@be182001) June 5, 2021
But on Thursday (10 June), Eilish posted a series of shots from the music video to Instagram, with the simple caption: “I love girls.”
Fans questioned whether the statement was a response to queerbaiting allegations or a coming out post.
One person commented: “Y’all reading what I’m reading.”
“Queerbaiting or coming out or girlie appreciation taken the wrong way,” wrote another. “We will never know.”
Billie Eilish drew heat over ‘Wish You Were Gay’
Billie Eilish previously received criticism over her 2019 song “Wish You Were Gay”, about a man who isn’t interested in her romantically.
Responding to the criticism, Eilish said at the time: “First off I want to be so clear that it’s so not supposed to be an insult. I feel like it’s been a little bit misinterpreted.
“I tried so hard to not make it in any way offensive. The whole idea of the song is, it’s kind of a joke.
“It’s kind of like, ‘I’m an ass and you don’t love me. And you don’t love me because you don’t love me and that’s the only reason and I wish you didn’t love me because you didn’t love girls.’”