Finneas O'Connell blasted for 'queerbaiting' after musician kisses his guitarist at Brooklyn concert

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK: Billie Eilish’s brother Finneas O'Connell has come under fire after he kissed his guitarist during his concert in Brooklyn on Saturday, October 12. 

Recently, a video has gone viral on the internet where the Oscar-winning music producer was seen kissing his guitarist - who was performing alongside him - during the Saturday concert. 

Soon, the ‘Love is Pain’ hitmaker elicited criticism from netizens who accused him of ‘queerbaiting’. Queerbaiting, according to Dictionary.com is explained as “a marketing technique” involving “suggestions of LGBTQ+ themes intended to draw in an LGBTQ+ audience, without explicit inclusion of openly LGBTQ+ relationships, characters, or people.”

Finneas O'Connell blasted for kissing his guitarist

As has happened with his sister Billie Eilish in the past, social media users called the musician out for his onstage kiss while accusing him of "queerbaiting."

One of the social media users said, "The queer baiting is insane."

"Here we go again.. the Queerbaiting is coming," said another user.

"Aw… siblings that gaybait together stay together," chimed in another fan. 

Someone else added, "So he and Billie queerbate for clout…yay😐."

"He will say it’s part of the performance 🤡," said another disgruntled user. 

Someone else added, "Bro what is he trying to do."

"How do they like to get attention," said another social media user. 

However, another fan noted their surprise, saying, "The kiss with his guitarist was unexpected."

"He's engaging in queerbaiting just like his sister, and we are exhausted by it," declared someone else. 

Meanwhile, another fan cheered his act, saying, "IM CRYING? He should come out of the closet atp."

"Let a guy kiss another guy when he’s drunk yall so dramatic," quipped another. 

Finneas O'Connell revealed he has a girlfriend named Claudia Sulewski

While it is not known whether Finneas O'Connell kissing his guitarist was an act of artistic overflow of emotion or a simple gesture of showing appreciation for a fellow musician, it has been reported previously that Finneas is in a relationship with his YouTuber girlfriend Claudia Sulewski. 

Following the release of his album, 'For Cryin' Out Loud!', as Finneas stopped by Jimmy Fallon's 'The Tonight Show', the talk show host asked him about the cover art of his album, asking why he had a solemn look on his face despite holding his girlfriend's hand in the picture. 

Finneas replied, "Not pictured, except for her cute nose and her pretty lips, is Claudia, my girlfriend, and we were doing a music video together for a song." 

He explained, "The title song on this album is 'For Cryin' Out Loud!', from the album 'For Cryin' Out Loud!', and we were shooting the music video. And, as you often do on a set, there was a photographer."

"This photographer, Muriel [Margaret], who's amazing, and she was taking photos, and we were shooting the music video on film, which has an amazing look but is a little bit riskier and more complicated," he continued, and noted, "And right before this photo was taken, the director had come to me and said, 'Hey, the camera broke, and we lost all of the stuff we just shot for the last several hours, so we're going to have to shoot it all again.'"

Finneas finally concluded, "So this is me thinking about shooting the whole video twice," per NBC.

Finneas O'Connell previously defended Billie Eilish from 'queerbaiting' accusations

This is not, however, Finneas O'Connell’s first brush with the term. Earlier in August, the ‘Only a Lifetime’ star defended his sister who was similarly accused of using ‘queerbaiting’ to draw fans. 

Eilish has battled accusations of queerbaiting quite a few times in the past. 

She faced the first round of allegations in 2019 when she released ‘Wish You Were Gay'. Two years later, she was bombarded with similar accusations after she released her 2021 music video ‘Lost Cause’. In her 2021 video, Eilish was seen enjoying a slumber party with other girls. 

Her most recent brush with queerbaiting allegations took place when she joined Charli XCX for the ‘Guess’ remix. In the song, she playfully sings that she would “hit it” with reference to Charli. 

In a viral TikTok, a user called the ‘What Was I Made For?’ singer out, while claiming, “Billie’s verse on ‘Guess’ is highkey predatory.”

Per BuzzFeed, the user further accused Eilish of "queerbaiting for commercial gain" while claiming that she reduces "girls to mere objects all in an effort to convince the masses that she’s actually into them."

The words, naturally, did not sit well with her brother who took to the comment section to pen a scathing reply to the user. 

Finneas reportedly wrote, "What a take you little clown," before adding, "I got to watch the entire internet slam my sister for queer-baiting for an entire year when in reality, you were all forcing her to label and out herself."

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.