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Gay Moment

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When a character, usually a male one, ends up enacting, complimenting, or acknowledging another man's sexuality. A split second later he will become alarmed at how incredibly gay they sounded just then, and will make a special Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today? effort in order to re-affirm how he is totally not gay. There is some Values Dissonance in some circles, as it's becoming more common to think this offensive to homosexuals since, after all, there's not supposed to be anything wrong with that.

The main hallmark of this trope is that it's a deliberate act with a non-sexual instigator, though often an unconscious one which only becomes "gay" when the character looks back and realize what he sounded like. Contrast Stupid Sexy Flanders, which does have a sexual instigator.

This trope is oddly less common with women, where such compliments can exist without implying that the speaker is a lesbian—even though she may still be amiable to Three-Way Sex later.

See also Accidental Hug, Accidental Kiss, That Came Out Wrong. Compare & contrast Gay Bravado, where a straight guy uses this kind of thing specifically to affirm his heterosexuality.

This trope is often one of the greatest sources of Ho Yay.


Examples:

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     Advertising  

  • This Super Bowl ad has a couple of men have an Accidental Kiss while eating a Snickers bar. They are so overcome with alarm that they immediately try to do the manliest things they can think of to shrug it off. Led to Unfortunate Implications when several of the "vote for the ending!" endings featured on the site involved violence... along side several videos of pro football players watching the ad and going, "Ewwww."

     Anime and Manga  

  • Jolyne Kujo of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure gets herself a bicurious moment in the middle what can be best described as a snail apocalypse.
    Jolyne Kujo: An organism that can have sex with anything it encounters. I'm kinda jealous... I mean... No! No! That's just gross!
  • The anime Death Note added in a scene of L and Light drenched from the rain and the latter receiving a foot massage from L out of the blue. Aside from it being biblically symbolic, the scene is depicted almost as if L has a foot fetish and even makes Light cry out.

     Comic Books  

  • Stuck Rubber Baby: Toland has so many of these, you'd think the others would start not believing him...
  • In one Zits strip, Jeremy and Hector are very close to engaging in a brohug, before glancing awkwardly at each other and saying TV makes it look a lot easier. Jeremy then says "Let Us Never Speak of This Again".

     Fan Works 

  • In For the Love of the Gods, Rapunzel passively mentions that she tried kissing Merida once to see why people like kissing so much, only to get slapped in the face for her troubles.

     Film — Live-Action 

  • Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. The eponymous boys, glad to be saved from certain death, hug each other, then call each other "fag".
  • Grease Kenickie and Danny have a hug, then act all manly when they realize the other T-birds are looking.
  • In Orgazmo a minor character (played by Matt Stone) has a catchphrase.
    I don't wanna sound like a queer or nothin', but I think Depeche Mode is a sweet band!
    Dude, I don't wanna sound like a queer or nothin', but I think you got a hot ass!
    Hey, I don't wanna sound like a queer or nothin', but I think unicorns are kick ass!
    I don't want to sound like a queer or nothin', but I'd kinda like to make love to you tonight.
  • From Planes, Trains and Automobiles:
    Neil: Del, why did you kiss my ear?
    Del: Why are you holding my hand?
    Neil: Where's your other hand?
    Del: Between two pillows...

     Literature  

  • In The Eclipse of the Century (a YA novel by Jan Mark), in an episode of stress-fueled slightly hysterical silliness, the main character and another man end up embracing while dressed in women's clothing. They then both confirm that they're not gay.

     Live-Action Television  

  • The (occasional) homoerotic tension between Al and Jefferson on Married... with Children.
    • In one episode, Jefferson hugs Al in gratitude.
    Al: Those better be dimes in your pockets.
    Jefferson: (Shrugs) Mostly.
    • A stronger, because more mutual, example, occurs in another episode when Al happens to graze Jefferson's hand when they're sitting next to each other on the couch.
    Al: Jefferson, your skin is so soft.
    Jefferson: Oh, Al, you say the nicest things.
    Al: Well, it's easy when I'm with you.
    • They gaze into each others' eyes for a moment; then they catch themselves and start talking, in a much lower register, about the Chicago Bears' prospects for the season.
    • Earlier, between Al and Steve when they're mistaken for a gay couple:
    Al: If I was gay, I'd like to think I could do better than him.
    Steve: What's that supposed to mean?
    Al: You don't turn me on! Yeah, I said it!
  • Friends:
    • Chandler tells Ross, "I'd miss you if I broke up with you." Ross asks why he said that, and Chandler says he's just trying to be supportive. Ross says, "Well, be supportive like a guy."
    • Joey and Chandler have a ton of these over the course of the series, including the time Chandler asks "hey, do we hug too much?" and the episodes in which Joey's decision to move out of their apartment was jokingly played like a romantic breakup. Ross and Joey also have one in "The One With the Nap Partners," for obvious reasons. Chandler even sort of has one with his father-in-law Jack when he accidentally sits on his lap in a really steamy steam room...while they're both naked.
  • While J.D. and Turk in Scrubs usually don't care about showing their love for each other, there is one episode where J.D. makes mention to one time where Elliot's boyfriend got drunk and accidentally climbed into his bed instead of hers, gave JD a kiss on the cheek and said "Hello, lover" while putting his arms around him. The mostly asleep JD responded with "Mmmm... tender." Back to the present, JD is explaining to Turk that anyone who woke up that way would let out a pleasure moan no matter who the other person was (plus Keith was "a decent kisser"). Then Turk recalls a similar incident in college, and JD says something like "Who drunkenly climbed into your bed and kissed you?" Suddenly both their expressions change to mild horror as JD's voiceover says something about them having repressed that memory for years and they quietly agree not to hang out for a couple of weeks.
    • There's also the subversion with the "Guy Love" song in My Musical.
      • It's played straight when JD sings the line "He's the only man who's ever been inside of me!" Turk immediately clarifies that he just took out JD's appendix. Apparently, the rest of the song was just fine, though.
    "And when I say I love you Turk/It's not what it implies ..." It should also be pointed out that the JD/Turk thing is a Running Gag, to the point where even Carla grumbles that JD is her husband's first love.
    • And then there's that one time JD goes to imagine him and Turk having sex (Elliot prompted him) . . . only for the fantasy to consist of Turk putting his hand on top of JD's to sexy music.
    • Just a few more quotes:
    JD: "I'm having a really gay day."
    Carla: Day?

    Turk: "How come you don't point it out when I ask good questions?"
    Carla: "Because I don't love you like he does."
    JD: (sing-song voice) "Told you."

    JD: "I don't have gay Jungle Fever!"
  • Happens occasionally on How I Met Your Mother, such as when Ted describes to Barney (through song) his plans for an amazing 'Super Date'. By the end of the song, both Barney and Ted are noticeably caught up in all of the romance, and go to a strip club to shake it off.
    • Not to mention the episode where Barney and Marshall spend all day pretending to be a girl (through text) to make Ted fall in love with them and then end up arguing over which of them Ted would most likely be in love with.
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Xander is in a struggle with knife-wielding class psycho Jack - a policeman shows up and asks what's going on; Xander tells him "Nothing! - just blowing off steam. Two guys rasslin'...but not in a gay way!"
  • One memorable moment on QI has Rob Brydon and Ben Miller kissing each other on the lips in response to all the teasing from the panel about how similar they look, before declaring, "Now I know why my wife married me!" and "That's what it's like! I can see the attraction!" respectively.
  • Tobias in Arrested Development is full of these, to the point where Michael tells him to record himself for a whole day and listen to it. He does so, and concludes that Michael was criticising him for being a Large Ham. Or as he puts it, a "blowhard"...
  • Red Dwarf: Lampshaded, Played for Laughs and exaggerated during S7 episode "Blue". Lister grieves the loss of crew member Rimmer, and therefores dreams about sharing feelings and more with Rimmer.

     Music  

  • The phrase "No Homo" was introduced to hip-hop by Cam'Ron, a famously Camp Straight Harlem rapper known for his Pink Mink coat, as a way to defuse Gay Moment punchlines, and he insists the phrase isn't homophobic, and more like That's What She Said.
  • Mocked relentlessly in The Lonely Island's song "No Homo," where the three characters say increasingly homoerotic things, up to and including having sex with one another and coming out of the closet, all of which are punctuated with the eponymous phrase just to reiterate that they don't mean it like that.
  • A frequent Eminem joke, in response to the criticism he faced for homophobic lyrics.
    • In the first verse of "My Dad's Gone Crazy", he announces that this whole time, he and Dr. Dre have been "fucking with hats off". Then backpedals.
    • In "FACK", he panics when a woman puts a finger up his ass - "I'm not gay, I like boobs, boobs, boobs, boobs..."
    • In "Just Lose It", he hits on Dre and hastily tries to 'explain' that he was drunk.
    • "Rain Man" ends with Eminem calling up Dre to tell him what kind of things count as gay, coming up with increasingly contrived homoerotic fantasies that eventually causes Dre to give up and insult him.
    • Much of "Killshot" is Gay Bravado in which Eminem uses knowingly homoerotic lyrics to reinforce how much Machine Gun Kelly is in love with him.

     Theatre  

  • In the musical 13 two characters go to kiss the same girl, she moves suddenly, they kiss each other... and there's an awkward moment before they turn away. Depending on the version you see, they act manly afterward, to counteract the kiss.

     Web Comics  

     Web Original  

  • In the Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged Movie Yusei and the Pharaoh seem to find each other equally cool (And Jaden equally sucky) and keep complimenting each other before with Careless Whisper playing in the background before breaking it up with "No homo". Subverted at the end when Yusei asks "No homo, right?" and the Pharaoh replies with "ALL OF THE HOMO"!
  • In the Outtakes for Darkiplier VS Antisepticeye, Markiplier records some threatening lines in character, but keeps corpsing as he unintentionally slips further and further into flirtation.

     Western Animation  

  • In The Boondocks, one of Riley's catchphrases is, "Nigga, you gay!". Used both literally (when a gay moment happens) and as a pejorative. Especially funny with Ed Wuncler III and Gin Rummy, who can't seem to decide if they are Heterosexual Life-Partners or just won't admit their sexuality to themselves.
    • In Season 3, Riley adds "No homo" when he says anything that might be considered gay. He adds "Pause" to give others (mostly Granddad) a chance to add "no homo" to save themselves from being Mistaken for Gay before he mocks them.
  • This happens often on Total Drama, usually with Owen and as of World Tour, Tyler.
  • Happens all the time in The Fairly Oddparents; unless Everyone Is Bi, it's safe to call Rule of Funny.
    • Timmy Turner's Dad deserves special mention, though, since his life is basically one long sequence of Gay Moments.
  • In the Avatar: The Last Airbender episode "The Serpent's Pass", Toph gets knocked into the water. Being a blind earthbender, Toph does not know how to swim. Suki jumps in to save her and gets a kiss on the cheek, Toph thinking she was Sokka.


 
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Avatar: The Last Airbender

Toph kisses Suki, thinking she's Sokka.

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