How Cute! The BBC Thought Adam Rippon’s Oscars Harness Was ‘A Nod to the Fifty Shades Franchise’

How Cute! The BBC Thought Adam Rippon’s Oscars Harness Was ‘A Nod to the Fifty Shades Franchise’

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People are still talking about it: Adam Rippon wore a harness to the 2018 Oscars, and social media lost its damn mind. Tons of queer people were screaming “yaaasss queen” into their TVs as they watched the big event’s red carpet programming. Other queer people were worried about “the message it sent to straight America” (who the eff cares, we say). And still others — mostly straight people, we’d venture to guess — were just … confused by Rippon’s Oscars harness.

Also in that “confused” category: The BBC. (And no, not this BBC.)

In a piece titled “Oscars 2018: Why is everyone talking about this outfit?” published on Oscars night, the BBC spoke of Rippon’s “unconventional outfit”:

Olympic medallist and figure skater Adam Rippon was one of the first people to arrive on the red carpet in an unconventional outfit.

Along with a suit, he was wearing a leather harness designed by the creative director of Moschino, Jeremy Scott.

That second sentence has since been amended, but it originally read like this:

How cute! The BBC clearly has no clue that the leather harness sported by Rippon was actually a nod to his queerhood. (And perhaps his raunchy in-the-bedroom sensibilities?) The Fifty Shades franchise, of course, refers to the heterosexual BDSM film trilogy based on the popular Fifty Shades of Grey books.

Despite deleting the (super cute) error, the BBC has been roundly mocked on Twitter, and the line persists in BBC syndication elsewhere on the web.

Twitter user Nick McGlynn, a human geographer and lecturer in the School of Environment and Technology at Brighton University in England, pointed out the faulty reporting in a pithy tweet (below) which read, “Too many straight people working at the BBC.”

His tweet has since been retweeted over 9,500 times with a handful of funny responses (below):

When Rippon received flack for his bold fashion choice at the Oscars, he responded:

“I think fashion is all about self-expression and I chose to wear what I wore on the red carpet because I felt cool AF. Everyone should take risks, be bold, and not give a [shit]. It’s LOTS of fun. Huge thanks to my team for dressing me and make me feel like a sexy MF,’ he proudly posted to Twitter.”

What do you think of the BBC’s confusion regarding Rippon’s Oscars harness? Sound off in the comments.

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