College American football player Chase Leon has clarified his sexuality after a photo of a ‘homoerotic’ embrace between him and South Florida Bulls teammate Nico Gramatica went viral.
The South Florida Bulls kicker Nico Gramaticawona college football game for the South Florida Bulls on Saturday (6 September), by scoring a 20-yard field goal over favourites Florida Gators.
And what better to celebrate a victory than staring longingly and romantically into the eyes of yourteammate, holder Chase Leon?
At least, that’s what the internet have assumed the pair were doing after a screenshot of the players went mega-viral on X following the game.
A screenshot of the moment posted to X account @V0LofTheWildcaptioned, “Just a couple of dudes beating Florida. Beautiful. Keep your kickers close,” has at time of reporting been seen over 7.7 million times
Just a couple of dudes beating Florida. Beautiful. Keep your kickers closepic.twitter.com/8Ks5OiU3cb
— VOLofTheWild (@V0LofTheWild)September 7, 2025
The moment between Leon and Gramatica garnered some excellent reactions on X, with many pining for the romance between the pair to be verified.
“I love when men get intoxicated on the inherenthomoeroticismof sports and let the wave carry them into deeper waters,” onewrote.
Anotherjoked: “Dudes will say football is super straight and then hold each other more passionately than they’ll hold any woman in their life.”
And a thirdchimedin: “Wait I would actually maybe watch football if there was gay s**t.”
Unfortunately for those hoping for some real-life-gay-college-football-player-romance, Leon has now clarified that he’s not gay, commenting under an OutSports Instagrampostof the story.
“Not gay but thanks guys,” he wrote alongside a laughing emoji and a rock-n-roll hand sign.
The moment between the football players also prompted an AI-generated video of the pair actually smooching – which very much did not happen in thereal-life versionof the game.
Not gay and not a fan of AI anymore!
— Chase Leon (@Chase_leon7)September 9, 2025cheers guys
And Leon has responded to that too, writing: “Not gay, and not a fan of AI anymore!” He again added: “Cheers guys.”
So even though the college football star is not gay, and countless fanfic writers are no doubt disappointed, the player let everyone know in a very respectful way – and that’s a win.
Nico Gramatica has not yet publicly commented on the viral moment.
Share your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below, and remember to keep the conversation respectful.
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