One Direction: Holy Twinks!

It's probably not a big surprise that there are gay men who lust after the guys in One Direction (who are all the ages of 18 to 20), but openly gay Bravo TV executive Andy Cohen, 44, may have gone too far by calling One Direction "a room of twinks." "Twinks" is gay slang for young, boyish-looking gay men, usually between the ages of 16 to 24, who are used as sex objects by older gay men. Because of the meaning behind the word, many young gay men find it offensive to be called a "twink." Cohen made the remark on live TV on November 13, 2012, while he was being interviewed in a celebrity gossip segment on NBC's Today... 

In his Today interview, Cohen described accidentally seeing One Direction in the Today green room: "This morning, I went into the normal green room that we typically go into. I barged in, there are all these people in front of us. Oh, it's all the leftover One Direction fans. I barged right into a room of twinks: One Direction! Security was not exactly too tight, with all due respect. I barged right in. It was crazy!"

In case he didn't make it clear enough that he sees One Direction as gay, Cohen tweeted on November 12, 2012, minutes before his "Today" interview: "No joke just walked right into One Direction greenroom!! The blond dude was shirtless #HolyTwink."

US website examiner.com via Towleroad - who notes wryly it's clearly a slow news day. It was soon picked up everywhere.

Does calling someone a twink mean you think they're gay? 

Probably not the best example, but the Bel Ami boys are twinks and, according to legend, most of them are straight.

It's a look, not a status.

Whatever it's a compliment, surely?

PS Cohen later tweeted; "Misused word earlier — I just meant they’re cute. #1D"

Update: Liked this - 'In defense of the word "twink"' Gay.net