WHET Dave Holmes, former MTV Veejay?

Jesse Camp was a weirdo.

Dave used to be a chub.

Jesse used to be so pretty.

He looks like a mess now.

Yes, openly gay.

Holmes was out at MTV, but not on MTV.

Sure, he’d playfully make an offhand comment about hot Justin Timberlake was, but he never overtly came out, so to speak, on air. “And the fact is that I wanted to be out, because I had needed someone like to me to have been out when I was fourteen,” he writes in Party of One. “If [former ‘80s VJ] Kevin Seal had been gay and said something about it, that moment would have been a seismic event in my life.”

He told an MTV talent executive, who was also gay, that he wanted to come out publicly. “I think…” the executive began, “I think you should be just exactly like you are.”

He finally came out as gay in a 2002 Out magazine piece, which, with no correlation, ended up being right around the time he let his contract with MTV expire. It felt good to be an out television personality, he says. There were not many of them, and still aren’t.

The news didn’t “break the internet”—that wasn’t a thing back then—but it did affect his career, and not always in the best way. There were hosting gigs he lost out on post-MTV because they were “family shows.”

Sometimes there would be a panel chat show looking to cast a gay member, and he’d be passed over for not being really gay. Translation: a stereotype. They’d be looking for a fountain of pizazz, someone who speaks in zingers, uses the word fierce, loves fashion talk, talks in constant sexual innuendo, and, most cripplingly, has chemistry with Tori Spelling.

Dave is actually my type.

I think he's handsome, and seems down-to-earth.

Total boyfriend material.

He's got a long term partner.

Is he cute and sweet in person, R6?

Also, is he short?

He looks like it in photos.

I listen to his podcast sometimes. He seems like a nice, if bland, person. I always wish he'd spill more MTV tea but he never does.

For some reason he looks like a professional golfer to me. That's to say he's bad looking; he's not.

It sucks they can't replay blocks of Classic MTV. Getting all the music rights is probably impossible and cost prohibitive.

Dave lasted three years longer on MTV than did Jesse Camp.

Watching this video, it's no wonder why.

Jesse looked so disgusting in that clip r10 😬. I was still *kinda* watching MTV at the time & I had a major crush on Dave Holmes. I have a type 🤷‍♂️ Was nice to see MTV featuring a nerdy bear cub, even with Camp constantly mugging for the camera next to him.

Jesse Camp was pretty much the final nail in the coffin of MTV for me.

Podcast is a snoozer.

Dave is probably here on DL.

Dave is/was super cute.

Dave wrote a memoir called Party of One that is stellar. Super moving book about being a closeted kid and choosing to stay in the closet perhaps a bit longer than he should have. He chose a super conservative college (Holy Cross) and his wistfulness at delaying an authentic life was poignant and well portrayed (and I absolutely related to it). It’s a must read. He also has great music taste.