Is Ayo Edebiri the next big queer icon?

Fresh from her triumph at the Golden Globes, actress Ayo Edebiri is considered by many to be the next big queer icon.

Known for her roles in adult animated series Big Mouth and satirical comedy film Bottoms, Edebiri’s name has been has been heard more and more. And this week, she took home the Golden Globe for best performance by a female actor in a musical or comedy TV series, for her role as chef Sydney Adamu in The Bear.

Her acceptance speech on Sunday night (7 January) went viral for its candour, as she proclaimed: “There [are] so many people I probably forgot to thank: all my agents and managers, assistants, the people who answer my emails, y’all are real ones. Thank you for answering my crazy, crazy emails.”

Now, she’s garnered the attention of sapphic fans, with one noting that the star seems drawn to projects closely mirroring LGBTQ+ slang.

“First The Bear, then Bottoms… what other projects named after gay sub-communities will Ayo Edebiri be part of?” they asked.

While discussing her role as lesbian character Josie in Bottoms, Edebiri told Refinery29 that she identifies as queer. “It’s radical that I get to be like a young Black queer person doing something stupid in a movie,” she said.

Lesbians were quick to applaud Edebiri’s performance in Bottoms, noting that her famous “It’s not gonna happen for me” monologue was actually improvised.

“I want to talk about how attractive Ayo Edebiri looked in Bottoms because I’m obsessed,” a fan wrote on social media.

And another called for a sequel “just to see Ayo Edebiri play a butch lesbian again”.

Edebiri has spoken about how the film acted as a catalyst for important conversations.

“There are so many jokes that we make in this film about weapons and masculinity and eating disorders and intersectionality,” she told Refinery29.

And it was seeing other women of colour working in acting that encouraged Edebiri to pursue her career. 

“Once I started meeting women of colour [who] had had different types of careers within entertainment, I started to see it as an avenue I could go down,” she said.