By Charlie Duncan

Copyright thepinknews

College American football player Chase Leon has clarified his sexuality after a photo of a ‘homoerotic’ embrace between him and South Florida Bulls teammate Nico Gramatica went viral.

The South Florida Bulls kicker Nico Gramatica won a college football game for the South Florida Bulls on Saturday (6 September), by scoring a 20-yard field goal over favourites Florida Gators.

And what better to celebrate a victory than staring longingly and romantically into the eyes of your teammate, holder Chase Leon?

At least, that’s what the internet have assumed the pair were doing after a screenshot of the players went mega-viral on X following the game.

A screenshot of the moment posted to X account @V0LofTheWild captioned, “Just a couple of dudes beating Florida. Beautiful. Keep your kickers close,” has at time of reporting been seen over 7.7 million times

Just a couple of dudes beating Florida. Beautiful. Keep your kickers close pic.twitter.com/8Ks5OiU3cb— VOLofTheWild (@V0LofTheWild) September 7, 2025

The moment between Leon and Gramatica garnered some excellent reactions on X, with many pining for the romance between the pair to be verified.

“I love when men get intoxicated on the inherent homoeroticism of sports and let the wave carry them into deeper waters,” one wrote.

Another joked: “Dudes will say football is super straight and then hold each other more passionately than they’ll hold any woman in their life.”

And a third chimed in: “Wait I would actually maybe watch football if there was gay s**t.”

Unfortunately for those hoping for some real-life-gay-college-football-player-romance, Leon has now clarified that he’s not gay, commenting under an OutSports Instagram post of the story.

“Not gay but thanks guys,” he wrote alongside a laughing emoji and a rock-n-roll hand sign.

The moment between the football players also prompted an AI-generated video of the pair actually smooching – which very much did not happen in the real-life version of the game.

Not gay and not a fan of AI anymore! 🤣 cheers guys 🤘🏼— Chase Leon (@Chase_leon7) September 9, 2025

And Leon has responded to that too, writing: “Not gay, and not a fan of AI anymore!” He again added: “Cheers guys.”

So even though the college football star is not gay, and countless fanfic writers are no doubt disappointed, the player let everyone know in a very respectful way – and that’s a win.

Nico Gramatica has not yet publicly commented on the viral moment.

Share your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below, and remember to keep the conversation respectful.