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On June 1, 2025, political commentator Ben Shapiro criticized Harry Styles for allegedly “pretending to be gay.” Shapiro uploaded a video on X, expressing his disapproval of certain celebrities present at the 2025 AMAs.
Shapiro initially criticized “actor, musician, and eventual Diddy witness” Jennifer Lopez, who hosted the event. Shapiro seemed to disapprove of Lopez’s performance, where she was seen kissing a number of her dancers, male and female.
He stated that Lopez was using a “Hollywood queer baiting tactic” and accused Madonna of doing the same before finally landing on Harry Styles. He displayed a picture of Styles dressed up as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz during his Halloween night concert in 2021 and stated,
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“A fading singer clinging on to irrelevance by pretending to be gay... Harry Styles parades around stage in a dress and calls himself queer despite the fact that he has apparently only dated beautiful female actresses and models. Now, to be fair, the women dating him may in fact be lesbians because Little Bo Peep over there is sporting quite the look.”
Ben Shapiro’s previous comments about Harry Styles explored
According to Vice, in 2020, Harry Styles broke barriers as the first solo male on the cover of Vogue, wearing a dress by Gucci and defying norms of how an artist should look and be styled in fashion. Although many lauded the decision as a means to create more fluid individuals willing to express themselves, it elicited a different response from conservative commentator Ben Shapiro.
As reported by Esquire, when Styles’ Vogue cover was unveiled, Shapiro went straight to X, writing that the photoshoot was an intentional move to “feminize masculinity.” He contended that the outfit was not just a fashion statement but an ideological one, writing,
“Anyone who pretends that it is not a referendum on masculinity for men to don floofy dresses is treating you as a full-on idiot.”
Shapiro painted Harry Styles’ decision as Leftist rather than a personal statement of style. His remarks echoed those of fellow conservative commentator Candace Owens, who said the “feminization of men” in the Western world was making society weaker. Owens connected Styles’ fashion expression to political stance and added:
“There is no society that can survive without strong men. The East knows this. In the West, the steady feminization of our men at the same time that Marxism is being taught to our children is not a coincidence. It is an outright attack. Bring back manly men.”
Critics noted that Shapiro’s argument and criticism seemed to overlook centuries of fashion history. The Forward reported that throughout most of human civilization, men in skirt-like clothing, togas, robes, and kilts were commonplace. Male musicians, such as David Bowie, Prince, and Kurt Cobain, were known to cross gender lines with their clothing and makeup, even in recent decades.
