Apr 18
With a 'Subway Takes' Hot Take, Jordan Firstman Utters Style Sacrilege
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 2 MIN.
In a "Subway Takes" hot take moment, queer influencer Jordan Firstman dropped the bombshell claim that gay men fall short when it comes to fashion – and even straight men outshine them.
"Subway Takes" is a person-on-the-street style YouTube show in which comedian Kareem Rahma interviews people while riding the subway. With microphones clipped to their metro cards, Rahma and Firstman debated the fashion choices of queer men versus those of their straight brethren, and agreed that straight men dress better by not trying to dress up at all.
Rahma asserted that "most of the time my gay kings are not slaying."
Agreed Firstman, "Yeah, well, it's just a lot. And it's like, gay men like to – I'll say they like to take risks." After verifying for Rahma that he himself is gay, Firstman explained the not-so-gay looking attire he was wearing at the time was a matter of him "cosplaying, like, David Beckham 2003 right now, which is a straight man.... so he says."
Firstman dove deep into what he sees as the problem. "So, in the '90s, I feel like the media was kind of telling us, like, 'Gay men are the arbiters of taste, of fashion.' We were watching 'Sex and the City,' it's like, 'Oh, honey, don't wear that,'" the "Rotting in the Sun" star said. "And so, we just got in our brains that gay men know fashion better."
Firstman went so far as to suggest that in a straight bar, "even the worst of the straight guys is gonna be in, like, an ill-fitting jean and, like, a flannel shirt, which is, like, not offensive."
By contrast, "A gay bar? I'm like, 'Why are you wearing a crop top that says "I love Björk and bottoming," shiny spandex shorts, and Doc Martens?' The risk-taking has gone too far."
Gay Twitter leapt into the debate with some hot takes of its own. One commenter declared, "Gay men opened up the world or fashion for straight men to swoop in and adapt like stolen valor".
Someone else commented, "I can very confidently say this isn't true because have you seen how conservatives dress? LMFAO," while another response declared, "like the stupid shit gay people wear sometime is still better than the frumpy nothingness of straight dudes".
But some agreed with the claim. "I think his take was worded incorrectly – gay men used to create the trends in fashion and now they merely fall victim to them," one Twitter user responded.
Have a look at what else people were saying about the exchange:
Have a look at some of Firstman's own fashion statements:
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
