Move Over Hunks – Here's A Who's Who Of The Internet's 'Hot Rodent Boyfriends'
Jeremy! Timothée! Barry! You name 'em and the internet will compare them to rodents. Yes, rodents. Far from being the slight that many of us may interpret a vermin comparison to be, the internet's recent deification of 'hot rodent boyfriends' has instead re-framed what is, at its core, unconventional attractiveness as an alluring, elusive sexual appeal.
While the beginning of this year seemed to herald a return to the hunks of yesteryear with The Bear star Jeremy Allen White's nearly-naked Calvin Klein campaign (with a guest appearance from all eight of his rippling abs) that was plastered as far as the eye could see, fast forward a matter of months and we are now instead, if the internet is to be believed, yearning for men with 'rodent-like' features. Now White, who was billed as one of the frontrunners in the return to Hollywood 'hunkdom', is being pegged as one of many rodent-esque pin-ups.
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If you're confused as to just how a rat could come to define the money-making looks of some of Hollywood's most promising young things, there's little clarification to be offered by TikTok users, who are believed to be the source of the phrase. 'Hot rodent boyfriend is, essentially, I want to say, like a hot guy, but he kind of looks like an insect. He's skinny, scrawny, a little weird-looking, but hot, kind of grimy for lack of a better word, a little slick,' TikTok user, Middle Part, says in one video. In another, she notes how historically 'it's been all about the Golden Retriever boyfriend,' referencing Ryan Gosling, Travis Kelce and Tom Holland. 'But 2024 is the summer of the hot rodent boyfriend.' Behind her, a screen shows Challengers' Josh O'Connor and Mike Faist and The 1975's Matty Healy.
A Daily Mail article from June 2024, which has been shared far and wide in videos on TikTok, credits Luca Guadagnino's recent film Challengers, as the point at which 'hot rodents' became hot property. In a May 2024 Dazed piece, Serena Smith narrowed down what it might really mean. She writes that 'rodent handsome men are usually more svelte than muscular, with more pinched, angular features'. And importantly she notes: 'They’re often not conventionally handsome.' X users have since flocked to the app to note how 'men pull off the sexy rodent thing,' with one questioning 'Why is my type in men rodent-adjacent?'
Confused? You're not alone. This is a who's who of the internet's 'hot rodent boyfriends'. Happy rodent boyfriend summer, one and all.
Timothée Chalamet
The boyfriend of Kylie Jenner (and the rest of the internet) is the pin-up of 'hot rodent' energy. Not only is Chalamet hot (rodent) property on the FROW at fashion weeks across the board, he's also being snapped up left, right and centre to star in films, and is dating one of the world's most famous women. His vibes, according to the internet, are 'ratty' and his looks even more so, but owing to his ascending star, if ever anybody needed proof that rodent comparisons are no bad thing, Chalamet is it.
Barry Keoghan
Still can't get that naked dancing scene from Saltburn out of your head? The chances are that you're what's referred to as a 'hot rodent lover', which, as the name suggests, implies your admiration for vermin-esque men. Just as Ms. Espresso herself, Sabrina Carpenter, who's been dating Barry Keoghan for several months now. Users on TikTok bemoaned how they couldn't quite decipher what Keoghan's allure exactly was, but now all has become clear. He is hot because he looks like a rat. Why, of course!
Matty Healy
The former Mr. Taylor Swift, who is said to have inspired several tracks on her recent bestselling album The Tortured Poets Department, is, what TikTok refer to, as the poster child of the 'hot rodent boyfriend.'
'When I think of hot rodent boyfriend, I think of a man that like wouldn't be able to like physically protect you,' TikTok user Middle Part, who notes how Healy is leading the 'hot rodent' charge, notes in one of her videos on the subject. 'Like a man that would get knocked out in a fight, but he's sexy. He's still hot.'
Josh O'Connor
Self-professed Ratatouille superfan, Josh O'Connor, who starred in the 'hot rodent' film of the year, Challengers, sealed his fate when he kept referencing his love for the rat0-themed 2007 Pixar film in interviews in May 2024.
He has since become one of the accidental founding fathers of the 'hot rodent boyfriend' movement, with his fans desperate for him to be cast as a rat in an unconfirmed re-boot of Ratatouille (rumours of a re-boot were swiftly shut down by Pixars' executives). What the internet wants, however, the internet does tend to get. All those in favour...
Mike Faist
O'Connor's Challengers co-star, Grammy-winner Mike Faist, is, according to the internet, an 'archetypal rat boy.' The reason? Why his angular face, small features and nerdy energy, of course. As one X user so sagely put it: 'Learning that Mike Faist has sexy little rat boy energy BUT is also 6’ is earth-shattering.'
Jeremy Allen White
The north star of 'hot rodent lovers' everywhere, Jeremy Allen White, graduated from being ordained a rippling hunk thanks to his nearly-naked Calvin Klein campaign to lending an entirely new meaning to the moniker 'rat king.' The Bear star is proof that the old-fashioned hunk of yesteryear may well be having an identity crisis, but if a rat looks like that in his Calvin Kleins, then sign us up.
Adam Driver
Despite standing at a towering 6"2, Girls star Adam Driver, has been beckoned into the cabal of 'hot rodent boyfriends.' Driver's long-standing appeal, despite his unconventional look, cemented his status as one of the 'hot rodent lover's' lesser-known MVPs. But still, rodent features aside, with that height, those eyes, and that body (have you seen his topless Burberry fragrance campaign?), we're not complaining.
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