Kerry Rhodes’ personal life was thrust into the public eye last week when MediaTakeOut posted intimate photos of Rhodes and his male assistant, causing many to believe that the current NFL free agent was living his life as closeted gay man. And though Rhodes denied the gay rumors, saying that there was nothing sexual about the photos or his relationship with his assistant, more photos have now surfaced showing Rhodes in more intimate moments with the man.
Yesterday, MediaTakeOut identified Rhodes’ former assistant as an openly gay man going by the name of “Hollywood” and posted more pictures of Rhodes and Hollywood hugging and walking with their arms around each other during one of Rhodes’ previous vacations.
In the post, the webloid also included a lengthy response to the many detractors of their original story who claimed that the site had crossed the line by trying to out Rhodes and that the photos were too ambiguous to say whether or not he was gay.
“There is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING SHAMEFUL about being LGBT. It’s not an “insult” to speculate whether a person is engaged in a homosexual relationship. For years, news organizations would PRETEND that homosexual relationships did NOT EXIST amongst celebrities. They pretended that there were NO professional athletes who were gay. They pretended that NO entertainers could POSSIBLY be gay. And those same organizations, by NEGLECTING TO REPORT THE TRUTH, helped to promote homophobia throughout society,” wrote the site.
However, their following statement seemed to be anything but complimentary and progressive as they proceeded to “speculate” about Rhodes’ sexuality.
“Well far be it for US to question how NFL superstar Kerry Rhodes’ CHARACTERIZES his own sexuality. But the relationship between him and his “assistant” — an openly gay man that goes by the name “Hollywood” — seems to be a little more than just professional,” wrote the site.
Granted, speculation about the sexuality of others is normal. But it is problematic to rely on such a narrow gaze in which we see relationships and sexuality in restrictive terms.
To look at the photos through that narrow gaze is to assume that any time a gay man and a straight man, or really any two men, show each other any form of affection or intimacy that goes against the hyper-masculine norm — and don’t throw in a “no homo” — then they must be gay or at least bisexual.
It’s fair to consider that Rhodes may be gay or bi and that Hollywood is indeed his lover, but it’s also fair to allow the possibility that men can express their affections through physical intimacy and not be sexually attracted to each other.
But we’ll leave you to decide what you think about the photos. Check out the new photos of Rhodes and Hollywood after the cut. –nicholas robinson
