Jay Vinnedge sashayed his way into The Traitors: New Blood, causing viewers to scratch their heads when they found out he's straight.
Jay was introduced to viewers of the NBC reality competition ā which in this iteration is populated with non-celebrity contestants ā by dancing into a room and then saying, āI made a conscious decision to lean into who I am. Iām unapologetically me. Iām someone who is zany and fun, and Iām going to slay Traitors.ā
After this scene, some viewers of the Alan Cumming-hosted murder mystery had made up their minds that Jay must be gay, until he dropped a truth bomb: He has a wife.
Jay and his wife Danielle Vinnedge have both made videos addressing comments from people who think heās gay, including a post on X (formerly Twitter) which went viral for questioning his sexuality. āThe reveal that heās married to a woman was the biggest gag of the season so far,ā reads the post that now has over 1.1 million views.
In Danielleās TikTok video, she responded to the social media uproar and countless DMs she's received calling her husbandās sexuality into question. āAs I was scrolling my own FYP this morning, I saw a bunch of reaction videos like this,ā she said. āLike, that was the most insane part of last nightās episode. What do you mean? Iām not dumb, girls. I know how this appears. Okay, but I need you guys to stop talking to me like Iām a fucking idiot, OK? But letās just recap a few things.ā
Danielle and Jay have been together for close to 20 years, and in that time, heās repeatedly been accused of being gay, and sheās been called his beard. But Danielle was quick to point out how problematic that assumption is.
@daniellevinnedge Okay so you think my husband is gay? At least he isnāt boring like your husband š #thetraitorsus #thetraitors #greenscreen #greenscreenvideo @Jay Vinnedge, MD
āItās like, to be a straight guy these days, you have to be this uber toxic masculinity meathead, who doesnāt have a sense of theatricality or anything, and then to be gay you just have to be the most effeminate person on the planet, when really people exist on a spectrum of all of those things,ā she said. āThere can be very masculine-presenting gay guys, there can be very gay appearing straight guys, and also this isnāt even taking into account bisexuality.ā
Jay also loves to twirl and sing, and is responsible for teaching Danielle how to perfect her eyeliner, but that doesnāt mean heās gay.
She ended her video by asking people to leave her alone and said of her husband, āheās just a sassy guy.ā
Jay made his own video about his sexuality, where he insisted that he wants to play the game being his authentic self and that heās ājust being me.ā
Catch new episodes of The Traitors: New Blood Thursdays on NBC and Fridays on Peacock.
