het-bait

A sarcastic term originating from yuri-bait. The word would initially suggest that it's a pair of characters that give a surface impression of being straight from their interactions with one another, but actually aren't. However because people perceive any character in the media as straight until proven otherwise, which is usually correct, this term is mostly just used to make fun of presumed straightness by using an analogous word to yuri-bait which is pretty common.

Those two characters seem to like one another. Are they actually gonna be straight or is that just another het-bait?

I bet those two characters that are together on the poster will be just another het-bait!

het-bait by Ehllie January 16, 2021

hetbaiting 

When a closeted celebrity is put into stunts, headlines, relationships/bearding in order to appear heterosexual.

‘Hetbaiting’ is selling a majority straight fanbase the unattainable but possible fantasy of being with this celebrity.

“No, they’re not straight. They were told their career would be over if they were queer, so they had to hetbait for years before they came out.”

“Maybe he isn’t queerbaiting and instead queerflagging? I think he may be forced to participate in hetbaiting due to his fanbase. That makes more sense.”

“She happily came out as a lesbian after years of being confirmed to be bisexual and only seen with men. Hetbaiting at its finest.”

“Real people can’t queerbait. But there is lots of money to be made from heterosexuality. Their PR team hetbaited this celebrity for years while they got accused of queerbaiting. How sad.”

hetbaiting by ArtOfAchilles May 16, 2023