Would you mind explaining the straw lore? I’ve seen people say Jensen’s dad told him drinking out of straws is not manly. I have no idea what the source on that is… and is the connection to the photo JA trolling his dad or is all of this blown out of proportion?
This got long.
So, in 2013 at NJCon J2 Panel, Jensen took a sip of his iced tea and said, "I don't like straws. My father said once there's no manly way to drink from the straw". Jared then immediately drank his tea through the straw, they laughed and moved on. It was gifed, you can find screenshots on pinterest if you want.
Fastforward to the end of 2020 and people re-discovering 15 years of fandom history in one sit, and the straw quote is now used as a proof of Jensen's toxic masculinity/homophobia/you name it. And under every post that mentions Jensen doing something gender-nonconforming or saying something about gender, sexuality or masculinity, or even under posts about his new roles, in the notes, there would be people bringing up this moment as some sort of ultimate gotcha. Or, at best, acting like he said this yesterday and is finally opening his eyes. All this about the quote from 2013.
Now, don't get me wrong, it was a dumb thing to say. I watched that video, this moment was clearly meant as a bit and not an expression of his life philosophy or whatever, but it is a stupid joke and it made me cringe. God, I hate con videos, they give me terrible second-hand embarrassment.
But it's been 9 years ago. Jensen's younger kids weren't born yet, I'm not even sure about JJ. People can grow a lot over much shorter time, and I don't believe Jensen was a "bad" person to begin with. There are tons of evidence and stories about him being a kind and open-mided man, even if he were more conservative back then (idk if he actually was). To dismiss all that because he isn't a perfect paragon (neither are other cast members, nor any of us), to mock him for his efforts to change is cruel and disheartening. Yeah, he's a rich white man, he won't see it, but other people do, and it's disgusting.
Also,
It's from S9 (2013-2014) gag reel, btw (x)
As for the photo, he had it as his pfp for several years (I can't tell you when exactly because I wasn't in the fandom back then). It's actually from the extremelly cute Jensen/Danneel photoshoot, to which I can't find a link right now. Interestingly, it's was either made in 2012 or 2013. Hmm.
I don't think this pfp is related to Jensen's father, mostly because I don't believe this extremelly dumb idea really mattered to Jensen (as an adult) in any way and certainly not to the extent some parts of the fandom like to think. It's a nice goofy photo, very in his style, why not use it on SM?
PS. While I was searching for the straw quote, I found articles on the same topic, from this year (and one about growing up with cold fathers, lol). I think Jensen is ok, actually.