Harry Styles’ gay tenderness in My Policeman has now been nominated for an award.
On Thursday, April 6, MTV announced the nominees for the Best Kiss category at the upcoming 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards. Among them is Styles’ gay kiss with costar David Dawson in the Amazon Prime Video original film My Policeman.
Styles and Dawson’s kiss is competing against kisses featured in The Last of Us (Anna Torv & Philip Prajoux), Outer Banks (Madison Bailey & Rudy Pankow), Daisy Jones & the Six (Riley Keough & Sam Claflin), and Only Murders in the Building (Selena Gomez & Cara Delevingne).
Considering the well-documented – and annoying – discourse surrounding Styles’ queerbaiting accusations and how poorly received My Policeman was by audiences and critics, the choice to nominate this particular kiss as the one MLM kiss in the category seems… like a choice, to say the least!
\u201cPretty sure my best kiss will *never* measure up to these #MTVAwards nominees \ud83d\udc8b\n \nVote for Best Kiss at https://t.co/hEh9YTg5A1, presented by @ChesterCheetah \u2014 and find out who wins at the @MTVAwards on May 7!\u201d— MTV (@MTV) 1680789602
It’s also disappointing that such an instantly iconic gay relationship between the characters played by Murray Bartlett and Nick Offerman on The Last of Us wasn’t recognized in this category instead, given how well it was received by audiences and critics alike.
Speaking of which, the internet broke with excitement when the character of Ellie (Bella Ramsey) had her first-ever kiss on the show with another girl, Riley. Thus, it’s also jarring that The Last of Us was nominated in the Best Kiss category for a non-LGBTQ+ moment. It’s giving big snubbed realness!
It’s just an award show, so we respect the choices that have been made. But if you’re asking us, it’s giving confusion, collusion, and conflama!
The 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards airs Sunday, May 7 on MTV.