Brandon Flynn Sort of Addresses His Relationship Rumors

Since the two were first spotted on a very friendly stroll in Los Angeles, there's been endless speculation about Brandon Flynn and Richard Madden's friendship ... or whatever. In a new interview with Variety, Flynn spoke about the endless tabloid interest in his romantic life, saying that the headlines about him are unfairly sensationalized.

"It's hard not to feel like something in my personal life is not being scandalized because that's kind of the way it feels when you read headlines about yourself, especially when you read headlines that have this big bang to them, and then you read the article and you're like, 'Why did you write that article? There is actually nothing there,'" he said. "It's all just something to egg on some sort of rumor cycle that will just keep going around until you finally get something that will actually just make it all true or false. So, it's hard not to feel scandalized."

Flynn went on to say he believes there is a double standard in Hollywood when it comes to queer people and dating, saying it's hard not to read headlines and feel as though the media wants see him fail. "It feels like a slight. But no one wants to write that article or read that article that would be like, 'Oh! Brandon is with this person and we are so happy for them!' There's always something behind it and there's always some sort of scandal that wants to be revealed, and that's frustrating. And in fact, it wouldn't be there if I was with a woman."

Madden also talked around the rumors in an interview with the New York Times earlier this month, saying he prefers to "keep my personal life personal" and that he's "never talked about [his] relationships." Neither of them, however, have denied dating.

Flynn also spoke about how he feels robbed of the chance to publicly come out, explaining that while he came out to his family 10 years ago, when "the industry caught wind of me being bisexual or gay or whichever one they choose to go with, it didn't feel like it was my own, and I think that's a bit frustrating for me and that's where I feel a bit judged that I didn't get to do that, nor did I really want to," Flynn said. "It didn't seem that it would make a difference whether I came out or not because it's just my life, and if people were watching my life, they would just know that. But it did feel like I had to come out -- even though I didn't ever come out to the public, in a weird way, I just one day read an article where I came out in the terms that they wanted me to come out."

Obviously everyone should be able to come out on their own terms, and also, media brands bullying celebrities into doing so is its own version of homophobia. But Flynn saying he didn't even want to publicly come out is a bit hard to hear, considering how important young LGBTQ+ public figures are on queer teen dramas such as 13 Reasons Why. With millions of impressionable young fans to recieve him, and an LGBTQ+ mediascape that predominantly supports white men, what does he have to lose or risk by coming out as visibly queer?

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