Can Andy Cohen Stop Asking About Dead Black Celebrities’ Sexualities?

For some celebrities, coming out and being honest about their alleged queer sexualities was simply not an option. And after years of fighting or not fighting, we don’t know for sure the closet, these celebrities and their struggles have been brought up twice in the past month on the aftershow for Bravo’s late night program Watch What Happens! Live.

On Tuesday night, Bravo figurehead Cohen asked legendary singer Patti LaBelle about Luther Vandross and why he never came out of the closet.

“He did not want his mother to be [upset]–although she might have known–he wasn’t going to come out and say this to the world,” LaBelle told Cohen. “And he had a lot of lady fans. He told me that he just didn’t want to upset the world.”

Cohen’s line of questioning comes less than a month after Cohen asked Rosie O’Donnell what she knew about Whitney Houston’s long-rumored relationship with her friend Robyn Crawford. O’Donnell said that she knew about it through friends.

I don’t have time to go into this right now, but……this is a lot.

Our people (Black LGBTQ folks) leaving this Earth never feeling safe to come out and be themselves……it’s just…a lot. https://t.co/Ori1YQaWAb

— Do the Hoemo (@_hoemo) December 6, 2017

Firstly, given how few successful, legendary Black Gay male artists there are,..clearly, Luther was onto something by being deathly afraid to come out in order to have a career.

He knew exactly how you Black cishets are. He fucking knew.

— Do the Hoemo (@_hoemo) December 7, 2017

Also, note that Patti made it a point to highlight that Luther didn’t wanna “disappoint” Black women, specifically.

His mother and his BW fans, alike.

— Do the Hoemo (@_hoemo) December 7, 2017

Luther was likely well-aware that the bulk of his support was from Black women……and that a lot of BW wouldn’t wanna consume anything he did if they felt they couldn’t project their desires onto him.

— Do the Hoemo (@_hoemo) December 7, 2017

How often do Black folks call out colonizers for wanting our culture & art, but not wanting us.? Well…look at how Black cishets put Black Queer/Trans folks in the EXACT same position. 🙃

……and then we gotta deal with WhiteGayze™ and their bullshit on top of that.

— Do the Hoemo (@_hoemo) December 7, 2017

Twitter user @_hoemo, spurred by Cohen’s questions about Vandross, unearthed some of the complexities about talking about black celebrity sexuality in an important Twitter thread.

While Vandross and Houston’s sexualities have been open secrets for years, Cohen comes off a little unprepared to deal with the heaviness of the politics of the closet in the black community. Both times when he asked O’Donnell and LaBelle, he comes off more as looking for gossip or a viral moment than trying to uncover any kind of truth.