We know that Netflix is getting gayer by the minute, but closeted folks might want to binge-watch with caution. A 15-year-old told his fellow Reddit users that he thinks Netflix outed him to his father.
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It all went down when he and his pops were looking for a movie to watch and he, much to his regret, volunteered his own Netflix account. “The first thing on Continue watching was Elite,” he wrote, citing the Spanish teen drama that features a prominent gay romance. “If you know Netflix, they like to switch up the little posters about once every minute, and this time, they decided to put the one of the gay couple holding each other’s faces. I nearly got put in cardiac arrest.”
He continued: “My father said something on the lines of ‘What’s that? Go back.’ I don’t know if that’s what he was referring to or he found something he wanted to watch. Either way, I low-key pretended that I didn’t know what he was talking about and kept looking.”
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The Redditor said that his reaction probably made it suspicious, but luckily, his dad sounds like be a future PFLAG candidate. “He’s very open-minded, and I wouldn’t call him an ally, but he’s pretty close. I walked in the house and saw him and his (girlfriend?) watching Queer Eye, and any time the topic comes up, he’s always supportive.”
“Regardless, I was still scared sh*tless,” the teen added.
Related: The awkward moment a gay broadcaster is accidentally outed on live TV
In the comment section, other users sympathized with the teen. “I know how you feel,” one wrote. “When I showed my dad Netflix, he scrolled down to gay movies I used to watch. He didn’t say anything, but either he doesn’t know yet or he doesn’t want to talk about it.”
“I legit delete my Netflix account every other week, so my parents won’t see that kind of program on my account,” another user added.
And while some commenters said that the original poster might be overreacting — especially because Netflix titles with gay characters are, thankfully, a dime a dozen — others wondered if the teen’s dad was using the surprise appearance of Elite as a conversation starter.
“What if he asked what it was in order to give you an opening to discuss it?” one wrote. “Either way, no pressure. When the time is right, for you.”
“Exactly what I was going to say,” another replied. “If Dad is comfortable enough to watch Queer Eye, something tells me that he’s a bit more understanding than OP is giving him credit for. It sounds to me like he might have an inkling and used that moment to try to broach the subject.”
The OP hasn’t offered an update on the situation, but here’s hoping his coming-out goes smoothly whenever it happens. And if Elite is what gets the conversation going, he’ll have a very 21st-century coming-out experience.
controversial2019
The thing is, our parents often know us better than we might know ourselves. Chances are his dad knows he is gay and has known for a while. Parents tend to know these things. They might try and suppress it or hope it’s a phase meaning when you do come out they appear shocked or whatever…but chances are they know.
Raphael
For someone in the closet, that can be a problem. Netflix definitely has a way to know you’re gay! For me, every-single-one of those little “posters” has a gay character or scene on it. Doesn’t matter if in its 10+ seasons the whole series has only one gay scene or one gay character among dozens of straight ones… That’s what it ALWAYS shows. They know you’re gay and their algorithm intentionally switch the posters and shows you the gay content in the series/movie.
MudgeBoy
But it is very easy to delete your history on Netflix. It takes as long as 24 hours to take effect but usually it happens much faster. I’m closeted so i do it all the time.