Harry Styles Claps Back at Queerbaiting Criticism During ‘SNL’ Opening Monologue, Ends Segment With Male Kiss: ‘Now That’s Queerbaiting!’

Harry Styles finally clapped back at the extensive criticism aimed at him for queerbaiting during his opening monologue on “Saturday Night Live.”

He began the segment reminiscing about his last time hosting the show in 2019 and finishing his most recent tour in 2023. “Back then, people seemed to pay a lot of attention to the clothes I was wearing, something called queerbaiting,” he said. “And some people accused me of it but did it ever occur to you that maybe you don’t know everything about me, dad?”

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He went on to talk about the other hobbies he’s indulged in during his time off, including running and finally his new album “Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally.”

“Some people have asked me where I got that title from,” he said, joking that he put a prompt into ChatGPT to “give me the most Italian phrase to ever exist,” fanatically pronouncing his album’s name in an exaggerated Italian accent.

“I mean, sometimes kissing can be great,” he continued. “You know, if you’re really good at it and you’re a good person.” At this point, multiple female cast members such as Chloe Fineman and Sarah Squirm made advances, all of which he denied.

When castmember Ben Marshall approached, he cheekily said, “Or if you have a tight little bum!” and went in for a full-on smooch. “Now that’s queerbaiting!”

It’s the second time the Grammy winning pop star has pulled double duty on the NBC sketch comedy series. He last commanded Studio 8H in November 2019, and he previously performed as a musical guest three times with One Direction and once solo.

This time around, Styles will sing songs from his new album “Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally.,” which dropped last week.

Styles also made an appearance during Ryan Gosling’s stint as host last weekend.