During the same period of time that Jonathan Taylor Thomas found himself at the center of a teen idol frenzy, speculation began to emerge about his sexuality. Eventually, rumors that he was gay had become so prevalent that he confronted them during a conversation with Jay Leno on “The Tonight Show” in 1998. “Pretty much, in Hollywood, you’re not anyone until it’s rumored that you’re gay,” Thomas quipped. “So I wasn’t that upset about it … not that there’s anything wrong with that, but, I mean, they’re rumors …”
Thomas reflected on the erroneous report in a 2000 interview with gay magazine The Advocate, in which he traced its origin. “The whole thing started on this website called Cyber Sleaze, which should tell you something,” he said, revealing he’d been made aware of it by his agent and some friends. “It was just a blatant lie put on the internet, and then it was just like a feeding frenzy,” he said, recalling the rumor’s rapid spread.
As Thomas explained, he wasn’t bothered if people believed he was gay. What did bug him, he said, was when his 95-year-old grandmother heard the topic of her grandson’s sexuality discussed on the radio. “She was a little upset,” Thomas revealed, admitting he was surprised that a complete fabrication from a dodgy website could gain so much traction that people believed the lie to be true. “What startled me was how willingly people accepted it,” he mused.
