Last night Rami Malek won the Best Actor award for his role as Freddie Mercury in the biopic Bohemian Rhapsody. But today he is dealing with some testy bisexual social justice warriors who are accusing him of “bi-erasure” for calling Freddie Mercury “gay”, despite the fact that he really was.

After thanking his parents, the Academy, the cast of the movie and Queen, Rami stated: “We made a film about a gay man, an immigrant who lived his life unapologetically himself and the fact that I’m celebrating him and this story with you tonight is proof that we’re longing for stories like this”.

Well that did not sit well with many bi-sexual activists who insists that a gay man who slept with a woman once is automatically bi-sexual. If that was true and every gay man who slept with a woman was to be considered “bisexual”, there would be very few “gay” men. Particularly in the era that Mercury came from.

Bisexual and gay is not the same thing. Put some respect on Freddie’s identity. #Oscars

— Raquel Willis (@RaquelWillis_) February 25, 2019

rami malek got an academy award for playing freddie mercury but doesn’t know him well enough to know that he was bisexual and not gay, ok.

— ✨ɯɐɥɓuıuunɔ uıɹǝʞ✨ ECCC Q9 (@KerinCunningham)February 25, 2019

I cannot think of a more poignant example of bi erasure than the actor who said the words “I think I’m bisexual” on screen calling Freddie Mercury gay in his Oscars acceptance speech.

— Bryce Hammer (@BryceHammmmer) February 25, 2019

I really don’t need Rami Malek stans down my throat, BUT FREDDIE WAS BISEXUAL AND BRIAN SINGER IS A CHILD MOLESTER.

— ❄️Ashley J. Leckwold❄️ (@misskittyf) February 25, 2019

Faith Cheltenham3 hrs · 

Sad face at the continued #bierasure of Bohemian Rhapsody. Ain’t an accident. And yall know he had relationshipS with women right? More than one woman he loved and loved him too…

So was Freddie Mercury really gay?  The answer is YES.

Despite having a long-term relation with Mary Austin, who broke up with Mercury mostly for the reason she thought he was indeed gay.  People must remember that during Freddie Mercury’s life, the wider world didn’t accept gay men. Born in 1946, he grew up at a time when same-sex attraction was considered a mental illness, a tragedy, a joke, or some combination of the three. Mercury’s Parsee parents practiced Zoroastrianism, a religion that saw being gay as a type of demon worship. And while Mercury remained close to his family throughout his life, he never discussed his sexuality with them.

Freddie Mercury was seeing men, many men, both while he and Mary Austin were together and after ending their sexual relationship. These men included record executive Paul Prenter, David Minns, chef Joe Fanelli, DHL courier Tony Bastin, German restaurateur Winfried “Winnie” Kirchberger, and Jim Hutton, who was with him until Mercury’s death in 1991.

Freddie Mercury never denied being gay, he downplayed it because 1. Homophobia/Safety concerns and 2. He did not want it over-shadowing his work as a musician which at that time would have been career suicide for the band. But later in his life Freddy stated more than once that he was “gay as a daffodil”

Just because a gay man has a relationship with a woman does not make him bi-sexual. Especially in the 1980’s and 1990’s where being ‘bisexual” which was more accepted than being homosexual was just the first stop for many on the “gay train”.

Some people are gay. Even Freddie Mercury. Get Over It.