>>536678202
Don't forget the Falcon and the Winter Soldier fiasco. After Stucky fell through some shippers started to see something between Bucky and Sam. It also didn't help that the writers of the show, knowingly or unknowingly, played into queerbaiting again.
>In episode 1 Bucky mentioned while on a date that he finds dating apps to be weird because of all the tiger pictures, which viewers were quick to point out as a tease of Bucky’s bisexuality as tiger pictures were quite popular on dating apps and mostly found on men’s profiles at that time.
>Showrunner, Malcolm Spellman, gets asked about it in a press junket. To which he simply said "I'm not diving down rabbit holes but just keep watching". Dismissing it entirely.
>There was one moment in particular in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode 2 where the title characters roll together in the fields after their fight against the Flag-Smashers, this as Sam saved Bucky, which resulted in them rolling in a way that has already been parodied in various ways.
>They were forced into “couple’s therapy” by Bucky’s therapist, Doctor Raynor, which included a “soul-gazing” exercise.
>Chatter about these moments eventually thrusts Anthony Mackie onto the discourse. To which he said, “So many things are twisted and convoluted. There’s so many things that people latch on to with their own devices to make themselves relevant and rational,” he suggested. “The idea of two guys being friends and loving each other in 2021 is a problem because of the exploitation of homosexuality. “It used to be guys can be friends, we can hang out, and it was cool,” he continued. “You can’t do that anymore, because something as pure and beautiful as homosexuality has been exploited by people who are trying to rationalize themselves.”
>This got gays and fujos alike in a tizzy. Which I can kind of understand but knowing Disney, it was a fruitless endeavor to have ever been hopeful for.