Blakely Thornton on Pop Culture as Sociology, Gay Beauty Standards, and What Makes An It Girl

Naked Beauty

Blakely Thornton traces his evolution from a closeted athlete in Dallas to a leading pop culture commentator, exploring how beauty standards, celebrity access, and media consumption have shifted over

Key takeaways

• Thornton describes his first Met Gala press pit as 'blood sport,' where he aggressively engaged celebrities like Kerry Washington and Teyana Taylor while wearing a Marc Jacobs suit.
• He recounts a traumatic football locker room prank called the 'money shot' that delayed his coming out by six years, highlighting the homophobic lexicon of 1990s sports culture.

Main topics

• Pop culture commentary and creator economy
• Beauty standards and body image in gay/straight communities

Notable quotes

"The press pit is like blood sport."

Conclusion

The episode offers a sharp, unfiltered critique of celebrity culture and beauty standards

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) It was the Black Dandy Met. Yes, we did it for the cut. Yeah, yeah, it was for the Queer Black Men's Met. And it was wonderful because it was my first time doing that press pit, and that press pit is like Bloodsport. It's like there's this much space. It was me, a little assistant girl, I think, named like Christina or Helen from the cut, and I was just screaming. And I'm just like in this Marc Jacobs suit that I'm just leaning over these wet flowers, screaming. Because I find if you talk to celebrities with bass in their voice, they react. So I was like, hello. I'm like, Kerry Washington, get your black ass over here. Or like, I made like a street. He got to, I like come back. I was talking to Tiana, just screamed at him. He came back and people were like, what is happening? Speaker 1 (0:45) Hello, hello, this is Brooke DeVard and you're listening to the Naked Beauty Podcast. I am here in studio with none other than Blakely Thornton, my friend. You know him, you love him, you've definitely seen him on your timeline. Blakely Thornton is a content creator and self-described pop culture anthropologist known for his hilarious takes on fashion and celebrity culture and his signature sign-off, Roll Credits. Speaker 1 (1:09) He co-hosts the weekly podcast, which I love, Yesterdays with Justin Sylvester, revisiting the pop culture moments that defined a generation, and Out Magazine 2024 Out 100 Honoree. Blake brings both heart and wit to everything he creates. And I have the pleasure of being in a group chat with you. Yes. So I get to hear from you, you know. She Speaker 2 (1:30) hears from me quite a lot. Speaker 1 (1:32) On my Instagram account, in my ears, through my text messages. Unhinged voice Speaker 2 (1:38) notes. Speaker 1 (1:38) Unhinged voice notes. I get it all. I get it all. But who you are on camera is who you are off camera. Truly, Speaker 2 (1:45) she knows. It might be a little bit more unhinged off. Speaker 1 (1:48) I'm kind of scared for the rest of you. I don't know what's going to be said. Anything could happen in this episode of Naked Beauty, y'all. Because what I love about you, though, is you don't hold back. Speaker 2 (1:56) There's no way I mean it's in 2026 is laughed to keep from crying. There's no there's nothing else I could do What's the point of holding back now guys? Speaker 1 (2:04) You know what everyone wants to be brand safe everyone. Yeah to be and you know you interview people Yeah, people are so sanitized mm Speaker 2 (2:11) -hmm, and Speaker 1 (2:12) you're also friends with a lot of celebrities So I know you get the behind the scenes see where they're like I'm I'm on a gag order from my public Oh Speaker 2 (2:17) like the through line that I've gotten from people that I know that are more established and have shows or bosses is it's literally like, you know, that thing from happy or not happy. It's what's the Billy Madison. He's like, never leave. Don't leave school. They'll be like, you have your voice right now. You will never have more control of your voice than right now. So like once you, once you have a boss, like it's really made me really think about like, I will never have more freedom than I do right now. And like that freedom is actually. in some cases more powerful than money and it's led me to have a really clear view of what that trade-off is because once you're on apple tv netflix there's now three or four big companies you know all run by fascists for the most part so you gotta be real careful so i now know how to like structure my deals be like you know who you hired right don't play so like if this comes back around so you know if you see me on tv you will know what i can and cannot say real quick Speaker 1 (3:16) Yes, yes. But I love that you call out things like the Met Gala. No one wants to call out the Met Gala because everyone wants their invite. Speaker 2 (3:22) Yeah. And I think for me, the beauty was I got to go and it went so much better than I ever could have thought. And it was the it was the black dandy met. Yes. We heard the cut. Yeah, yeah. It was for the queer black men's met. It was wonderful because it was almost like it was my first time doing that press pit. And that press pit is like blood sport. It's like there's this much space. It was me, a little assistant girl, I think named like Christine or Helen from the cut. And I was just screaming. And I'm just like in this Marc Jacobs suit that I'm just leaning over these wet flowers screaming. Because I find if you talk to celebrities with bass in their voice, they react. So I was like, hello. I'm like, Kerry Washington, get your black ass over here. Or like I made like a shooty got to I like come back. I was talking to Tiana, just screamed at him. He came back and people were like, what is happening? And I'm like. Well, I know these people and I understand that if you're struggling, go by. But if you hear me and we make eye contact, now you know where I am. Come over here. We're Speaker 1 (4:23) going to talk. Okay. There's so much happening in pop culture today, but I need to go to your story, the origin story. Oh. What makes Blakely Blakely? And I want to do it almost in decades. Okay. Speaker 2 (4:34) I'm Speaker 1 (4:34) going to give you different time periods and you're going to tell me how you would define that time in your life. Speaker 2 (4:38) Okay. Speaker 1 (4:38) Start with the first 10 years. Speaker 2 (4:40) First 10 years, really sweet, really happy. To be honest, my mom always said I was the sweetest kid. I think that was my villain origin story. A kid named Travis in preschool was, like, bullying me every day. And I'm like, Speaker 1 (4:53) here's my lunch. How's your Speaker 2 (4:54) heart? Blah, blah, blah. But he, like, pushed me to the edge one day, and I pushed him down a slide. Speaker 1 (5:00) Was Travis okay? Speaker 2 (5:02) Yeah, he didn't die. He's okay, as far as I know. But I remember my teacher was like, she told my mom, like, I had to give him time out, but I was so glad that he stood up for himself. And I think, like, that was, like, it was, like, 1990, and that was the first time, but not the last time, that I chose violence. So I think that was my villain origin story. Speaker 1 (5:21) And he pushed you there. Speaker 2 (5:22) Yeah, exactly. Don't push me because I'm close to the edge. Right. It's Speaker 1 (5:25) a Speaker 2 (5:25) rap lyric and a lifestyle. Where were you growing up? I was in Dallas, Texas. Okay. So my parents met at the U of I, and they were both consultants for IBM. And then they moved from Kansas City, Missouri to Dallas like four or five months before I was born because that was a huge IBM campus. And then my mom loved the baby clothes from Neiman Marcus. So my name is actually Blakely Neiman Thornton. Speaker 1 (5:49) No, wait, that's iconic. So Speaker 2 (5:51) I have no choice but to be very successful or a complete flop. I was just like, well, everybody's like, that's a wealthy name. It is. Everybody says that. They're like, is it the third? I'm like, it's the first. Thanks, Janice. But yeah, so Dallas, Texas went to a prep school called St. Mark's. Okay, was it diverse? No. I always say it was like Gossip Girl, but more racist. So it was like St. Mark's and the Hockaday where it was almost like, you know. a Dalton or a collegiate or all those New York schools. Well, Speaker 1 (6:21) that makes me think of our group text. Yes. So in our group text, it's Hannah Bronfman. She and I went to Spence. Honor's like a private citizen. Like, I feel like, can we talk about Honor? Honor's like, Honor should be on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Thank you. Like, she is that girl, but she's like, private profile, 100 followers. Speaker 2 (6:38) Well, she also admitted that that's over. Bitch, it's over. We know. Because she did you and Hannah's little group TikTok, and I was sitting there like, I sent her that meme of Sarah Paulson in American Horror Story when she's looking at that phone. I'm like, this is the end of your breath. They got you. I was like, girl, it's over. It's over, babe. Speaker 1 (6:58) Unleash the beast. Unleash the beast. Unleash the Kraken. She's there. You're Speaker 2 (7:01) a public figure, bitch. Get over it. Get over it. I said, one of us. I sent her a side text saying, one of us. One of us. She was not happy, but she knows now. She Speaker 1 (7:11) knows. Madison Uten Dahl also went to all of these very white private schools. Me, you. We're all in a group text. We're all chatting consistently. And we probably all have some shared. trauma about that experience. Speaker 2 (7:22) 100%. It's like, for one, it was the 90s. That was when Ross Pereira was running for president and his grandchildren went to our school, so they had bodyguards. So I was used to, like, a bodyguard named, a black bodyguard named Dwayne with a mustache and a gun being there in third grade, because that was, like, 1994, 96, when he was running as an independent. And then I remember someone from my grade owned every sports team. In Dallas. So even like going to games, it was a very like, you go on. I remember like when Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash came to the Dallas Mavericks, like we were with the owners at the time, the Perots, and also my other friend's dad played for them. So it was like, so then Dirk Nowitzki, who could not speak English at the time, was like talking to me. But I thought, that's how you go to see a game. And then I went to Penn, which was a 76ers game, and bought tickets. And I was like, Speaker 1 (8:14) the Speaker 2 (8:15) fuck is this? I'm with Gen Pop. I paid 80 American dollars. Why is everything free? Where's the parking pass? Where's my signed ball? And my whole team, who were like, it's Penn, so they're fairly bougie, too. They're like, what the fuck is wrong with you? Speaker 1 (8:29) Are Speaker 2 (8:30) you kidding? I Speaker 1 (8:31) just grew up at a very different life growing up. Yeah, Speaker 2 (8:34) I was like Lisa Barlow or whatever. I was a very different life than the rest of you. I don't know what this is. And then you learn the value of money real quick. But yeah, Skate Marks was a crazy. Speaker 1 (8:44) Crazy Speaker 2 (8:45) time. Give Speaker 1 (8:45) me 10 to 20. What were you like as a teenager? Ooh, Speaker 2 (8:48) psycho. 10 to 20 was like almost like peak closeted. Like I didn't, I hadn't quite fully admitted I was closeted yet. I was a competitive tennis player. So I was traveling across Texas and occasionally a couple of national tournaments playing USTA tournaments. Loved that. My sister was kind of like coming behind me that she's always better at all the sports than me. The Speaker 1 (9:08) fact that you're an athlete makes so much sense. When I think about your discipline as a creator, I don't think people really realize what it takes to show up every single day, edit the video, shoot the video, even when you don't feel like it. But you having that sports background between football and tennis, it makes sense. Speaker 2 (9:22) You just have something to do. You're like, I got to wake up, write, talk, think about it. And lately I've been taking a break when I feel burnt out because I feel like you know how it is. When you're creating content, there's what you think it's going to do for people and what it doesn't. does and I think me having an opinion on political topics or just trying to find joy in the trauma of existing right now somewhat people look at me as like almost a cultural or moral bellwether and then they're sending me more traumatic things so when that through my therapist when that gets overwhelming I like shut it down for three to four days which is funny because you know me normally I would post two to six times a day if I'm feeling good. So if I don't post for two or three days, friends are like, are you dead? Are you sick? Are you okay? Are you in the hospital? But you just have to kind of control the emotional ebbs and flows of that as it comes. Speaker 1 (10:09) And people probably feel like they want your take on something. Yes. Until you've spoken on it, they may not even know how to feel about it. What does Blakely think? Speaker 2 (10:17) And that's what's frightening is I thought initially it would inspire people to go out and look and like... educate themselves to form their own opinion but increasingly there's people like no you tell me what to think yeah and then when they don't agree it's almost like a cellular cellular level betrayal yeah Speaker 1 (10:36) for Speaker 2 (10:36) some reason you'll get like the soliloquy of like i know i love you i don't agree with you but and i want to tell everybody with much love or actually with you know whatever you want i'm not reading more than five sentences in my comment section you Speaker 1 (10:48) have one Speaker 2 (10:49) paragraph to make your point and if you can't There's probably not a point there, kids. There's probably not a point there. Absolutely right. I'm sure you get that too where you're like, I'm not reading this opening to Hamlet about a shoe I like or dislike. Right. Speaker 1 (11:06) Sorry. Take me through 20 to 30. And did we work at Ralph Lauren at the same time? We did. Speaker 2 (11:12) We came in at the same time. You were part of the first social media team. Speaker 1 (11:16) Yes, I was. I remember that. 625 Madison Avenue. Were you there in that building? Yes, Speaker 2 (11:21) and I was a part of Paranoz's SIEM, Customer Intelligence Experience Management. So we were putting the data-driven stuff with y'all. But we were still siloed. So I would like to see you. I Speaker 1 (11:32) remember seeing you, but like I didn't know what you did. Yes, Speaker 2 (11:34) because I would like to see you walk by. And I remember you had a Ricky bag. It was like an emerald green or like a black Ricky bag. I had a Speaker 1 (11:43) Ricky bag. I mean that the Ralph Lauren employee discount. It was crazy. It was 50 % off and then like 70 % off sale. Yes. The employee sample sales. And Speaker 2 (11:52) then when they owned Club Monaco. Right. And then Club Monaco was also a vendor for some of the huge brands when they had the one at 21st and Madison. I Speaker 1 (11:59) should have shopped more. I shopped a lot when I worked there, but I should have shopped more. It was Speaker 2 (12:03) great. There's no better. When you go other places, there's no better employee discount. Like even as like a creator. Speaker 1 (12:08) Okay. So 20 to 30, you're at Penn. You're on the football team. Yes. And you're still at this point dating women. Speaker 2 (12:13) Not convincingly, but like. I feel like Penn was almost like a drunken fever dream because this was 2004 to 2008, which was a worse cultural time for, I think, gay people back than it is now. Where, like, you know, like, you just scream the F word at people for any plethora of reasons, not necessarily meaning homosexual. So I find after, like, I go to Penn. I graduate. I called it a comedy of errors. They used to call me, like, Mariah because when we would lift. I would demand complete silence because I'm like, why are you barking? Why are you yelling? This is stupid. And also, like, if I'm trying to lift 260 pounds and you're barking and I giggle, I'm going to kill myself. Like, Final Destination style. So I'd be like, everyone shut up. Speaker 1 (12:57) Silence. No one Speaker 2 (12:58) talk. I'm going to attempt this right now. They're like, I'm sure so many of them must have known. But I was also like, I was almost overcompensating for being gay by being like. extra strong and extra fast and extra diligent and having this kind of like physical armor that kind of shielded me from whatever inquiry I would have gotten had I been physically weaker because I still had very much the same mannerisms I had now. Like I didn't have a gel set manicure, but like I talked the same, which I, not that you can talk like a gay person, but I wasn't like up here going, yo, yo homie, what's up? Right. There was the prep school plus homosexual, which wasn't making for the most. intimidating football growl. Speaker 1 (13:42) What was your concern about coming out? Did you feel like your parents, was it more family? Was it more society at large? Speaker 2 (13:48) Honestly, by the time I came out, which was like my late 20s, one, I had a fairly traumatic experience the first month in the football locker room with them, like with a prank they call money shot, which I don't, they didn't know it was gay, but it kind of repressed me about six years. And then two. Wait, Speaker 1 (14:04) wait, wait. You can't just roll over that. I mean, I talked Speaker 2 (14:07) about it recently in my own podcast. Basically, you go to football camp two weeks before school starts. This is my first time away from home. I'm 18 years old. I never showered in a group. So after like a week, they see who's doing well. And I was like, at the time I fell off. But at the time, I was like the top fullback in my class, at least for the first year. or the first, like, two or three months. They pick somebody, and they, like, you're in the shower, and then a senior's like, you want this D? And I'm like, what? And the other seniors start chanting money shot. So you think they're going to sexually assault you, but then they actually just throw soap in your face. Oh, my God. And that's the money shot. So I always say, like, if that hadn't happened, I would have probably come out, like, six years earlier. Speaker 1 (14:47) That's, like, straight men are so