Fans are questioning whether Alexander Skarsgård just casually copped to having experiences with both men and women during a recent film festival conversation.
The True Blood star has been in the middle of promoting his new film, Pillion, about a kinky gay biker (Skarsgård) who strikes up a D/s relationship with a wallflower named Colin (Harry Melling). During a recent appearance at the Zurich Film Festival, he spoke candidly about what drew him to the film and how he approached the role.
"I found that in this case, it’s not really relevant what my background is. I mean, I do have a kid, but what I’ve done in the past, who I’ve been with, men, women… To me, what was important was that this felt like an opportunity to tell a story about a subculture I hadn’t seen portrayed this way — with so much authenticity," Skarsgård said, according to Variety.
It didn't take long for people to pounce on the "who I've been with, men, women" portion of what he said and question whether that actually meant he was admitting to having been with both men and women.
Admittedly, the other reading of Skarsgård's statement is that he's saying it doesn't matter if he's been with men or women, rather than that he has been with men and women, but... sometimes in life you have to make a choice, and people are choosing to go with the interpretation that sparks joy.
"He had too much chemistry with literally everyone in True Blood for him to be straight," wrote one X user.
"Yea he BEEN that James Dean/Richard Pryor type sexual," said another. "A man who knows he’s that fine is fucking everyone." And the discourse on X continued.
Adding fuel to the fire, at another point in the conversation, Skarsgård did admit that he has "a little bit of experience from that world" of leather gays and pushed back against the idea that it's in anyway scary or dark. He also said that when he first read the script for Pillion, he was worried it would include some twist where his character secretly has a wife, and was thrilled to discover that wasn't the case.
"We had a joint after party with a Nigerian film where homosexuality is illegal," he added. "It was the first Nigerian film ever to play at Cannes Film Festival, so there were ambassadors and politicians from Nigeria – we had our kinky gay bikers in leather harnesses and Paul in his pup mask. It was pretty beautiful to watch."
