VIDEO: "Celebrity's" Sanjaya Malakar Addresses Gay Rumors
June 17 2009, Published 10:45 a.m. ET
Sanjaya Malakar broke his silence toward the whirlwind of rumors regarding his sexuality on Tuesday night's I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here!, saying he was straight.
“I do hair and I’ll sit in the corner and knit, so it confuses people,” Malakar said. “A lot of my friends refer to me as their ‘straight gay best friend,’ because we’ll go do things that stereotypically you would do with a gay guy.”
The Washington state native said that he has long had ties with the gay community.
Said the 19-year-old: “I connect with gay people really well because we understand each other I’m like, ‘Hey!’ and they’re like, ‘Oh, hey!’ and I’m like, ‘No, but I’ll hang out with you."
Malakar -- currently romancing Holly Montag -- said that his personality and attitude toward the opposite sex has often led to people (including his Celebrity cast mate Janice Dickinson) thinking he was homosexual.
- Lionel Richie Backing Carrie Underwood For Her New ‘American Idol’ Job All Night Long As ‘Knives Sharpened’ Behind Scenes
- Heartbroken Carrie Underwood and Husband ‘Looking Into Adoption’ After Devastation of Multiple Miscarriages’ — ‘She Figures It’s God’s Plan’
- ‘American Idol’ Winner Carrie Underwood Comes Full Circle as Show's Newest Judge... Replacing Katy Perry
“I’m not like that classic, stereotypical macho guy that’s like, ‘Oh yeah! Oh, she’s hot. I wanna get in her pants!’; I’m not that kind of guy," Malakar said.