Jan 2
A Gay Couple Kissed on CNN's New Year's Eve Special, and Homophobes Went into Orbit
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 4 MIN.
The ball drop in Time Square was on New Year's Eve was spectacular, but even better was the social media response to homophobic trolls when a same-sex couple's kiss was caught on camera.
The hate posting went into overdrive after a same-sex couple's kiss was caught on camera. Everybody else, meantime, simply celebrated a casual moment of 21st century life.
The moment followed longtime NYE special hosts Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen getting back to their boozy ways after a hiatus of on-air drinking on the annual televised occasion, Buzzfeed noted.
At the stroke of midnight – and the start of 2024 – the video feed cut from the descending ball to a male couple sharing a blissful snog. It was the telecast's first shot showing people of the new year, and some thrilled at the sight.
Others critiqued the men's outsized "Planet Fitness" hats, the Q-Anon set spied a conspiracy to push a "woke," "gay" message, and some were seized with a case of the anti-gay vapors.
Then, of course, there were those who just there to have fun... and they certainly did, pointing up and taking down the overblown hysteria from the homophobic set. One social media response merrily, and correctly, predicted what was about to happen.
Whether it was met with acrid anti-LGBTQ+ seething, adoring exclamations at the sight of sweet affection that happened to be shared by two men, or social media users making fun of homophobic pearl-clutching, the moment launched the new year in memorable style.
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.
