We’re not clowning around: Pennywise from ‘It’ is the new gay icon for 2017
An unlikely character has joined the Babadook in becoming the 2017’s strangest gay icon: Pennywise.
Pennywise the Dancing Clown is the antagonist in the Stephen King novel ‘It’ and has terrified generations of people.
The novel was turned into a mini-series in 1990 and has recently been turned into a film which had its theatrical release on September 8.
Pennywise rose to his iconic status when Twitter user @starkrhodey posted that Pennywise was an LGBT ally, with the quote “gay rights” attached to a photo of the infamous clown.
This tweet gathered a lot of attention and some people were less than happy about the clown’s allyship.
The original tweeter posted these screenshots of one irate reply, which includes the phrase: “Penny-Wise went out of his way to terrorize the effeminate male children.
“The idea that his character would support the gay agenda is absurd. Take that post down.”
The original poster then tweeted both of these images together and Twitter embraced Pennywise as their newest gay icon.
Parallels were drawn between 2017’s other horrifying gay icon, the Babadook.
The Babadook shot to gay icon status after Netflix mistakenly put the psychological thriller into its LGBT film category.
Twitter embraced the Babadook into the community, with multiple Babadooks appearing at Pride events this summer.
Drag queen Miles Jai even attended the season nine finale of RuPaul Drag Race dressed as the Babadook.
Rumours quickly spread on Twitter in regards to Pennywise’s relationship with the Babadook.
Several people claimed that Pennywise and the Babadook were in fact in a relationship and couldn’t be happier.
Within the last few days, Pennywise has been cemented as both gay icon and fighter of homophobes in his own unique way.
Pennywise has been less controversial as a gay icon than singer Ariana Grande, who was named ‘gay icon of the generation’ by Billboard to mixed responses.
