Jonathan Bailey Is Allowed to Kiss Your Wife

“Famous married actress shares passionate red carpet kiss with co-star,” says Syracuse.com. “Married Scarlett Johansson Shares Spicy Kiss with Costar Jonathan Bailey at ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ Premiere: Watch,” says OK Magazine. “See Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Bailey’s Wickedly Sweet Red-Carpet Kiss,” says E! Online. These are the headlines coming out of the June 17 premiere of Jurassic World: Rebirth in London, where co-stars ScarJo and Bailey did, indeed, kiss for the cameras on the, actually, green carpet. This is odd framing for photos of an out gay actor and straight female co-star sharing a cosmopolitan continental “hello,” but what if it’s also, in a way, empowering?

Follow my logic. After three Jurassic World films starring Chris “prayer and fasting can cast out the most difficult demons” Pratt, Bailey has taken over the franchise, playing the lead paleontologist in Rebirth. This is like replacing an old Ford F-150 plagued by a lingering odor with a sexy Aston Martin. In a Hollywood Reporter profile out June 18, Bailey acknowledges the significance of being cast as the lead in a massive action blockbuster, referring to Hollywood’s still-pervasive “glass ceiling.” “Being an out gay actor, historically, meant that you wouldn’t be able to play straight and there weren’t any gay parts to play, anyway,” he explained. In this sense, Bailey’s ability to generate steamy headlines like he’s Oscar Isaac proves his dashing girl-kissing leading-man abilities even more than Bridgerton, and it should be added to his reel.

What really makes this red-carpet kiss headline-worthy is that Johansson’s husband, Saturday Night Live “It” girl Colin Jost, doesn’t appear to be at the premiere at all. If Bailey is Fiyero, that makes ScarJo Glinda and Jost the tragic Munchkin-cuck, Boq.

Related

• Release the Shirtless Fiyero-Boq Cut!