Finneas Defends Billie Eilish After Commenter Calls Her Charli XCX ‘Guess’ Verse ‘Predatory’
Finneas is coming to his sister’s defense after a commenter labeled Billie Eilish‘s verse on the Charli XCX “Guess” remix “predatory.”
The takedown occurred in the comment section of a TikTok posted Friday (Aug. 2), in which a user wrote that the 22-year-old singer’s lyrics on the Brat deluxe track were “highkey predatory,” accusing her of “queerbaiting” and “reducing girls to mere objects, all in an effort to convince the masses that she’s actually into them.” The remark appears to be in response to the part of “Guess” where Eilish sings, “Charli likes boys, but she knows I’d hit it/ Charli, call me if you’re with it.”
The producer, however, was having none of it. “What a take you little clown,” he wrote. “I got to watch the entire internet slam my sister for queer-baiting for an entire year when in reality, you were all forcing her to label and out herself.”
It’s unclear whether the user who posted the criticism was coming from a genuine place or simply trying to stir the pot, but Finneas’ point still stands. Eilish has been open about how challenging it’s been for her to speak about her sexuality on her own terms while growing up in the public eye, especially as she’s faced backlash for supposedly queerbaiting — or disingenuously pandering to LGBTQ audiences for commercial gain — since 2019’s “Wish U Were Gay.”
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The two-time Oscar winner was met with similar allegations in 2021 for dancing sensuously with women in her “Lost Cause” music video. At the time, Eilish didn’t publicly identify as part of the LGBTQ community; in November 2023, however, she revealed to Variety that she’s “physically attracted” to women, soon after which she accused the outlet of “outing” her on a subsequent red carpet.
“i like boys and girls leave me alone about it please literally who cares,” she added on Instagram Stories at the time.
Eilish has since grown more comfortable speaking — and singing — about her sexuality. Before “Guess,” she mused about lusting after a female love interest on her Billboard Hot 100 hit “Lunch,” and in her April Rolling Stone cover story, she said, “I’ve been in love with girls for my whole life, but I just didn’t understand — until, last year, I realized I wanted my face in a vagina.”
“Who f—ing cares? The whole world suddenly decided who I was, and I didn’t get to say anything or control any of it,” she continued in the article. “Nobody should be pressured into being one thing or the other, and I think that there’s a lot of wanting labels all over the place. Dude, I’ve known people that don’t know their sexuality, or feel comfortable with it, until they’re in their forties, fifties, sixties. It takes a while to find yourself, and I think it’s really unfair, the way that the internet bullies you into talking about who you are and what you are.”
