Who is Sean Ryan Fox? And who is the guy in bed with him?

 

Someone named Sean Ryan Fox appeared on my Instagram suggestions.  I assume that he's an actor, since he has 1,000,000 followers, but I have no idea what he's been in.  All I know is that he has a chest....

He wears boxers instead of briefs, so he's concerned about showing too much bulge.  He has a picture of a car on his wall, definitive proof that he's heterosexual.

On the other hand, he wants to draw attention to his crotch (and motorcycle).

And he's apparently on vacation with a cute guy. 

A very romantic vacation.

There are no girls on his instagram.  So: cars, motorcycles, muscles, guys...

And he has a dog buddy.

I think he's answered the gay/straight question.  So on to the more important question: why does he have a million followers?

Time for the IMDB: Sean Ryan Fox has 26 acting credits, mostly on Nickelodeon, notably the Superhero spoof Henry Danger (2014-2020). 

He played Jasper Dunlop, one of Henry's best friends (Nickelodeon teencoms always give you two). 

Jasper and Henry (Jace Norman) have a gay-subtext romance going on, and even a shipping name, Jenry.

They are close friends (or something) off camera, too.  Jace is the cute guy in the vacation photos.

I actually reviewed the show in 2014, and forgot about it. 35,000 hits! Apparently a lot of people caught the subtext.  Or was it canonical? See Henry Danger: A New Gay Subtext Classic.

Estrada versus Lopez

Erik Estrada was sort of the Mario Lopez of the 1970s: Hispanic, built, always smiling, constantly winning "World's Sexiest Men" awards, and photographed shirtless every ten seconds.

But there were some significant differences.

Erik is best known as Officer Ponch on Chips (1977-83), a role which allowed him to consort with beach-babes and big-brother troubled teens (such as Leif Garrett), while never establishing any significant homoromantic bond with his partner, Jon (Larry Wilcox).  Mario's characters frequently enjoy homoerotic buddy-bonds.

Perhaps due to the popularity of Chips, Erik was heavily identified as a police officer.  He played parodies of his character several types, he actually was a reserve police officer in Muncie, Indiana, and he lent his name to several police-related organizations.  Mario seems to have a wider range of roles to choose from.

And the most important difference: Mario Lopez has played gay characters several times and is a strong gay ally.  Erik Estrada has never played a gay character and has never made a public statement supporting gay people.  To be fair, he hasn't said anything homophobic, either.

In 2012, a photo of his Ponch character was found on a supervisor's desk at the notoriously homophobic Atlanta Police Department, marked with an anti-gay slur.  It was unclear whether Ponch was "accusing" the supervisor of being gay, or the supervisor was "accusing" Ponch.


Either way, Erik Estrada had no comment.