Michael Barbaro is engaged to a female

No quips or anything?

People who do the "I don't define my sexuality" routine really think it sounds interesting to others when it is actually just tiring.

I don’t get what makes him special as a podcast host.

He has this thing where, pp the guest will say, “The sky used to be blue but there are signs it is turning green.” And Michael will say, “Wait, so let me ensure I understand this. You’re saying that the sky, which used to be blue, is actually turning green...that there are signs of that?” Yes, that’s what he fucking said!

Truly fascinating character. Soft spoken nerdy gay type. I remember when the big scandal first hit looking to see if people had just assumed he was gay, when he had always considered himself bisexual. But no, there was an article he wrote about coming out in college/ being gay specifically. What makes a gay identified man, married to another man, have an affair with a female co worker? While its all consenting adults (apart from the jilted ex husband) there is also something so strange about the woman. Like what makes you go for a man who is married to another man? I find his refusal to explain it really disingenuous. It would be different if he had never talked about his sexuality - then he could make some claim about refusing to discuss it. But he has talked about it in the past. So to now play that card now that he has moved on with a woman is kind of gross.

Like say you are bi, or you are just contributing to the harmful stereotype that gay men simply need to find the right woman. I have no issue if he is bisexual, I have an issue with a man who is currently on record as saying he is gay, wanting to marry a woman.

Kind of old news, no? The engagement may be new, but not the relationship.

Bi men are strange

I just find this fascinating in a character study of way. What causes the change of heart? Did he want to feel more like a "man"?

Congrats bro

He certainly has gayvoice. But then every man on NPR does.

He's kinda corrupt. Lookout Lsa!

He’s creepy looking and corrupt AF. He probably lied about being gay so he wouldn’t have to explain his bisexuality.

I know Michael, I used to live in the same Riverside Drive coop. He seemed like a nice guy and his (male) partner, with whom he lived, seemed nicer. But Michael is so wildly ambitious that he needed more than a nice man, he needed a stepping stone partner to more power and success, didn't matter if it was a man, a woman, or a donkey.

Tuna for two....have at it. It is not his last taste of the peen. What a sad sack. Really pathetic....reduced to a caricature.

Unusual but it occasionally happens, though very very rarely with men.I knew a woman who was a lesbian but wound up marrying a man at 39. Never met a gay man who switched.

Are we sure he's not lesbian?

This is another example of how bisexual men choose women for relationships, men for fucking. It happens in the vast majority of cases.

How is he corrupt?

Does he have a big eye-talian dick?

Now he’s engaged to a woman.

What’s this Caliphate scandal he had going?

R20, his current partner, Lisa Tobin, was an executive producer of Caliphate. He failed to disclose that on a corrective podcast, in which he interviewed Executive Editor of the Times, Dean Baquet, about the scandal. He also approached 4 journalists and asked them to temper their comments while critiquing the Caliphate scandal.

Because it's part of the argument "Did Michael put The Daily on the map, or did The Daily put Michael on the map," he was never punished for such a clear ethical breach.

I've wanted to bring him up in the past, but wasn't sure how to frame the discussion. I find it fascinating a formerly out and proud man who identified as gay, is now engaged to a woman (but doesn't go through any lengths to claim he's bisexual).

This is the only time I've ever heard of someone being an openly gay man with a male partner and leaving them for a woman.

So someone posted this on the red scare Reddit and a poster noted that he was trying to deepen his voice.

They must be madly in love!!!

Is Red Scare as heinous as it seems, R23? Those girls seem absolutely insufferable.

HMM!

HERE'S whatyou NEEDTAKNOW-DUDDAY.

His cadence on the podcast drives me crazy. I really like The Daily but I have turned it off several times because of the way he speaks.

I just looked him up on YouTube for the first time ever, and he doesn't have that annoying manner of speaking in this interview. Is the annoying way he talks created just for the podcast? It's so strange and off putting.

He's definitely not straight but I can buy him as bisexual based on his mannerisms.

He sounds like a gay Children's Librarian doing story hour.

How long before the woman leaves him for a woman?

Michael, call me! We can share... anecdotes!

He’s hot. I’d make him sit on my dick for an hour.

r29 William Atherton in Ghost Busters looks exactly like that AmBi bisexual activist

I fucked him raw at a party once. Hot ass.

Anyone know his ex-husband? That must have been a nasty break up given that they were married such a short time. Barbaro clearly wants to be part of a media power couple.

He has a very "that's just Pat" energy.

Pat, for reference.

No man is going to leave a male spouse for a woman just because he wants to be part of a media power couple. He must really love her and be able to have some sort of sex life with her.

It almost boggles my mind. I can’t remember if I’ve ever even heard of a man leaving a man for a woman before.

[quote]Like say you are bi, or you are just contributing to the harmful stereotype that gay men simply need to find the right woman. I have no issue if he is bisexual, I have an issue with a man who is currently on record as saying he is gay, wanting to marry a woman.

r4, bingo. I have no time for bisexuals who lie about being gay. The confusion this brings does harm to actual gay people and, as you wrote, contributes greatly to the myth that homosexual men can change if they just meet the right woman.

R36 he did leave his husband for her, they were already divorced before he started dating his boss.

R38 didn’t

"No man is going to leave a male spouse for a woman just because he wants to be part of a media power couple."

Oh, that's so sweet...and naive. From the article: "His is a “tenacity that maybe has shades of ruthlessness,” his old friend Rebecca Angelo, who followed Barbaro into journalism before becoming a screenwriter, puts it." He was only married to his husband for 4-5 years.

And I agree with OP that his refusal to comment on his sexuality now is definitely disingenuous (and frankly, selfish) given his willingness to refer to himself as gay before. If you don't like labels then don't use them one day and them complain about them the next.

R38/39, I know that's what the article says but I don't believe it for a second. That quote sounds like CYA-speak from the Times (or from just Barbaro and Tobin).

I think he's tremendous!!

How fucking tiring.

Honestly should've just came out as trans

The lovely couple had a child.

Man has crazy eyes.

Poor kid

'lesbian' Charlotte climber congratulating him in the link lmao. Yes, bisexual leaves man to have a family with a woman late in life.....how wonderful and.....unique. Not.

bumps

Michael Barbaro is an insufferable twat. I think was listening to The Daily recently and he can’t even pretend to be human. It was a really gut wrenching interview and he was totally checked out of it, no empathy at all.

R27 Why is the audience laughing? Nothing was said that was in any way amusing or witty.

R22, my husband left me and married a woman two years later.

It happens.

R23 Was he bi? Or a converted Christian? Also sorry for your lost.

He has been posting about Juneteenth, and trans stuff during pride month....not a jot about gay people now he has a wife and child...