Do you see babygate as an attempt to delay their CO or an attempt transition into it?
The second, actually. I think Babygate has, for all intents and purposes, been a sort of lightning in a bottle. If it were an attempt at further bearding/closeting, we would have seen it handled in a very different way. Even if she weren’t pregnant, they would have introduced her to the fandom in a much better way than the random mystery blonde leaving a club with him several times over break. They would have hidden the pregnancy if she were really pregnant with his child, so if they wanted to use a pregnancy storyline as a media push (which they obviously did) but their intentions were to push back into the closet further or beard, there are several continuing press narratives that would not have happened or continued through the whole thing:
1. They are NOT together. I think there’s been like, one Hollywood Life article that talked about “rekindling” their relationship (which please), but most legitimate reporting on this has been very, very careful to make it extremely clear that they’re not together and never were. If they wanted to use this to closet/beard, they’d attempt to forge a relationship out of it a la Elounor 2.0. (With new baby accessory! HA. Sorry.) This is made further apparent by the fact that Louis’ been in the same country for weeks and weeks now, but they’ve made no effort to show them together. In fact, they were very careful to drop Babygate after the two California shows had concluded and shot down any rumor she was at Seattle or Vancouver before keeping him well away.
2. The Harry mpreg manip/Larry mentions. This was truly the revival of Larry press/end of the media blackout. There had been rumblings, this did it in. It’s brilliant that they chose to revive it in this way, filtered through the lens of the ultimate het narrative for Louis, which curbs speculation. Because no, Louis and Harry can’t be together and it’s just a bromance because Louis fathered a child. Excellent hedger, that. If this were meant to beard or closet, that absolutely would not have been done. The media may have mentioned Harry, but only to talk about his shock, perhaps his distaste, and then eventually -maybe- his support. Instead, we’re getting jokes about Harry being the one whose knocked up. Okay then.
3. The slut shaming/trashing of Briana. Look, I’m not a huge fan of this, but it’s there. From day one, the reports have made sure to underscore that she’s a college dropout, that she’s talkative and abrasive (which highlights a cultural narrative surrounding quiet, submissive, supportive women being better long-term partners), etc. They have not treated her with soft gloves at all, and that’s intentional. It lays the groundwork for the “she took advantage”, “she lied”, “she blackmailed” storylines that I think may be inevitable once this gets struck down. I still think when they hand down/greenlight the official denial, they’ll want this covered from multiple angles, most of which will not paint B in a kind light. Her family has done nothing to help the situation, and I still think there has to be something beyond this in it for them.
Long story short: I think that this springboards very, very well into a coming out once it’s denied and killed for good. Paternity denial and a few months later, Louis comes out (with Harry) and everyone laughs about that time everyone thought he was a baby daddy.
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