Back in April 2023 Queerguru wrote about French burlesque performer and dancer Jake Dupree being the new Face (and Body) of Honey Birdette Lingerie in Australia (You can read our original piece HERE). Honey Birdette identified itself as a brand “for all” since its founding in 2006 and issued a statement saying that it would not tolerate hateful rhetoric and that gender-non-conforming people, including trans and non-binary people, are valid in their identities.
Jake actually clarified the shoot in question wasn’t an official thing, explaining: “I went to my friend’s living room in LA, and we shot it. It makes me seem cooler than I am.”
Speaking in this month’s Attitude magazine Dupree said that ‘they’ always knew that there would be a backlash to the images. However, even Honey Birdette admitted they were surprised by how much backlash the images got. This incident comes off the back of the Dylan Mulvaney-Bud Light fiasco, which riled people up on the web.
It did worry Dupree about how much and what details they post on social media. They said people commented gun emojis on their profile and also messaged their mum on her own Instagram. “It made me feel like I should back away from doing some stuff for a while. I signed up for this — not that it’s warranted — but I understand it because I’m pushing a boundary and people’s ideas of sexuality.
“I’m happy that people talked about it,” Dupree, who identifies as non-binary, continued. “All of these identities and expressions, none of them is new; just the terminology and a lot of the exposure to it is more prevalent. That’s why it’s scaring people so much.”
“I’ve been trying to be more careful about what I post on social media about where I am, or my friends or my family because I worry. I do fear for my safety at times but it’s not going to make me stop.”
Aside from all this rampant homophobia + nonbinary phobia, dare we suggest that part of all the anger stemmed from the fact Dupree looked as hot as hell.
