Is Ryan Seacrest Gay? Simon Says: "Come Out!"

MARCH 15, 2007: Following his rather embarrassing attempts to get everyone to think he was dating Desperate Housewife Teri Hatcher last season, the host of FOX's "American Idol" and Los Angeles radio celebrity Ryan Seacrest may be getting ready to follow in the footsteps of "Grey's Anatomy" star T.R. Knight and "How I Met Your Mother's" Neil Patrick Harris. Or is he?

The stars of "American Idol" Ryan Seacrest and Simon Cowell have been known for their frequent, sometimes genuinely funny, sometimes rather repetitive, forced and tedious homoerotic comebacks for years.

But the bar was set a lot higher last Tuesday night when Simon Cowell told a bewildered Seacrest he should know better to give contestant Melinda Doolittle advice on high heels (poor girl seemed rather embarrassed caught in the crossfire.)

"Stay out of my closet, Simon," responded Seacrest, followed (after a long pause) by Simon's cheeky and quite audible: "Well, come out." The awkward exchange ended with Ryan saying "This is about the Top 12, okay? Not your wishes." Oh, snap!

Now what was that all about? Was it a carefully staged innuendo designed to capitalize on the ongoing speculation about Ryan Seacrest's personal life, or did things really get out of hand?

One of the theories is that the host of the blockbuster program may finally be setting the stage for coming out in public and is no longer careful about being seen in public shopping for groceries with his boyfriend, as evident in these recent candids made in the gay mecca of West Hollywood. Given the fact that half of Hollywood is gay, it would be about time.

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