Pansexual icon Joe Lycett troubled by people assuming he’s gay despite having a girlfriend
BAFTA-winning TV host Joe Lycett is pansexual. (Getty)
Comedian and TV presenter Joe Lycett has spoken about the struggle of people assuming he’s gay, despite the fact that he has a female partner.
The Late Night Lycett host was speaking to RuPaul’s Drag Race UK season two finalist Bimini on new podcast The Pieces and revealed that the best description of his sexuality was pansexual, which refers to someone who can be attracted to someone regardless of their gender.
“It’s interesting now, being in a long-term relationship with a woman, because loads of people are like: ‘Sorry, what?'” he said.
At school, he believed he was gay because he was attracted to men but later realised that his feelings extended to more than one gender.
“I use the term bisexual when I just want to give a quick answer because people understand that. But I think the most accurate way of describing myself is pansexual, in that I’m not attracted to people just because of their gender,” he said.
Lycett revealed that he has a long-term female partner whom he calls Denise. That’s not her real name but helps hide her identify publicly.
“I call her Denise because she hates the name. So, I live with Denise,” he joked.
He went on say that he is “attracted to men sometimes”, particularly those with “a good torso… little abs… a lovely arm…” but that “it doesn’t matter what the gender is” if he finds the person attractive.
Despite his sexual fluidity, the BAFTA-winning star said he often struggles with members of the public who presume he is gay “because [he’s] camp on telly”.
The fact that he isn’t gay has led to some pretty unpleasant experiences.
“Pretty much all the biphobia I had when I first came out as bi was from… elder gay men who were like, pick a side. And I kind of get that as well, because, you know, some of them died for it. They were in that era. It was illegal for them.
“So, for someone [like] me to come along and go, well, I’m a bit of this, I’m a bit of that, must be really annoying. They’re like: ‘Well, I had to put my cards on the table and say I was gay, then go through all the s**t that came with that’.
“I get it but it would be nice to live in a world where everyone just chilled the f**k out.”
Since becoming a household name in the 2010s, Lycett has used his platform to speak about sexuality and issues facing the LGBTQ+ community.
In 2022, he courted controversy for a publicity stunt which involved him pretending to shred £10,000 ($13,000).
He promised to destroy the cash – which turned out to be fake – if football legend David Beckham refused to pull out of a sponsorship deal promoting that year’s men’s World Cup in Qatar, where being homosexual can be punishable by death.
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