Summer on the Balearic coast has a habit of turning quiet vacations into headlines.
Pedro Pascal learned that this week. Photos surfaced showing the actor shirtless aboard a superyacht off Mallorca, posing beside male model Christian Hogue. Within hours, speculation about Pascal's sexuality was trending across social platforms again.
The pictures were taken July 28 and 29 aboard the Rising Sun, a yacht owned by media executive David Geffen. Fellow guests that week included actors Jason Bateman and Judd Apatow, along with Jessica Sklar. Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox had visited the same yacht days earlier. Local press has nicknamed the anchorage Billionaire Bay for its cluster of superyachts.
One commenter pushed the speculation further, calling Hogue an escort hired for the trip. Hogue, a 34-year-old model who has worked with Versace, Guess and Vera Wang, answered back publicly. His nearly 1.4 million Instagram followers watched the exchange play out in real time.
"I am not gay nor am I for hire," he wrote in an Instagram comment. "I have been welcomed to this boat as a friend for many years."
"So it's a damn shame to see how quickly everyone jumps to this conclusion," he added, calling the claim something that "couldn't be farther from the truth."
This is not new territory for Pascal. The Chilean-American actor has never confirmed a specific sexuality, despite years of fan speculation. Back in 2017, he told the Los Angeles Times that attraction exists on a spectrum.
"Straight men can have, do have, crushes on other men," he said then. "It doesn't make them gay, it doesn't make them bi."
Fans built entire online communities around that idea, many tied to his bisexual character in Game of Thrones. Years of outspoken advocacy have earned him trust with LGBTQ+ fans.
Pascal was linked earlier this year to Argentine creative director Rafael Olarra. Olarra, who works with design house Faena, visited Pascal on the set of his romance film De Noche in April. That relationship has never been confirmed by either man.
Hogue's own background complicated the online reaction to the yacht photos. He is facing a pending felony assault charge in Nashville, Tennessee, tied to a January altercation. Some social media users also branded him a conservative supporter, a claim he has not addressed directly.
None of it slowed down Pascal's own schedule. His film Behemoth!, directed by Tony Gilroy, was just named the centerpiece of the New York Film Festival. It opens in theaters December 4.
The outing, and the reaction to it, will likely fade before then. Pascal has yet to comment on the photos or the backlash himself. For now, Hogue insists the internet got it wrong.
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