A conservative pundit from the Newsmax network was trolled on social media after making a femme-phobic remark targeting pop sensation Harry Styles.
Greg Kelly shared an image of the "Watermelon Sugar" singer from his performance at last weekend's Coachella Music and Arts Festival wearing a dazzling rainbow-sequined pantsuit.
An unimpressed Kelly tweeted:
“I think Harry Styles would benefit from 3 years in the Marine Corps.”
With his unsolicited tip, Kelly–who is a former United States Marine–must have thought Styles' enlistment in the United States military would suppress his flamboyant personal style.
The fact there are plenty of LGBTQ+ Marines who have never compromised on their personal aesthetics out of uniform must have slipped the conservative pundit's mind. The fact Styles is from the town of Redditch in Worcestershire, England also apparently missed Kelly's grasp.
While Britain does have the Royal Marines, Kelly is not equipped to speak on their behalf.
Styles doesn't identify as queer, but Kelly's disapproval of his manner of dress is unsurprising given the Newsmax hosts history of homophobic comments–including one in which he asked why movies should include LGBTQ+ characters.
The former One Direction vocalist may not have actually served in the armed forces as Kelly has, but Styles sure pulled off the look of a soldier in combat in the 2017 film Dunkirk–which depicted the Dunkirk evacuation of Allied troops during World War II from the perspective of land, sea and air.
If Kelly was looking for the stylish singer looking more butch, he needn't have looked further.
Fans trolled the former Fox News correspondent by using images of Styles from Dunkirk to jokingly inform Kelly the singer did "serve" in military style.
Kelly failed to detect the sarcasm in the replies and responded to the ridicule by criticizing the movie.
He wrote:
"ASTOUNDING-Many think since HARRY STYLES was in 'Dunkirk' he was in the Military."
"He's in a COSTUME, Not a Uniform."
"'Entertainers' were once there for our occasional Amusement, now FANATICS have made them a New Religion."
"('Dunkirk' STUNK btw. Couldn't decide what it wanted to be)"
Naturally, rallying fans seized upon the opportunity for even more trolling of Kelly.
And the mockery over Kelly's fixation on Styles continued.
This was not the first time Styles was under attack by conservatives for his gender-bending fashion.
In 2020, conservative pundit Candace Owens slammed the singer in a diatribe on Twitter about "the steady feminization of our men."
In her tweet, she posted screenshots of Styles wearing a Gucci gown from his historic Vogue photoshoot in which he became the first solo male featured on the cover of the iconic fashion magazine.
"Bring back manly men," implored Owens.
Styles subtly threw back shade by repeating her words to bring back "manly men" and posted a photo of him in a frilly shirt with a banana in his mouth.
