Cosmo Jarvis Isn't a Gay Pirate. He Just Plays One in His Amazing New Video!

Cosmo Jarvis

The past twelve months have seen quite a few gay-inclusive and gay-themed videos from artists ranging from Lady Gaga to P!nk to Kylie Minogue to Ozomatli. But it’s probably safe to say we haven’t seen anything like “Gay Pirates” from UK singer Cosmo Jarvis.

Not only is the subject matter of "Gay Pirates" wildly different from any of the songs from the above artists, but Jarvis also plays the part of the gay pirate in his own video. In addition, he conceived of the video’s concept, and directed and filmed it himself.

While the twenty-one-year old Jarvis – who also writes, acts and makes movies – was actually born in the U.S., most Americans are probably unfamiliar with him despite the fact that he has made something of a splash in the UK where he has already generated a fair bit of buzz as a singer.

That might be about to change with the release of the video for “Gay Pirates” as not only have a number of U.S. sites including AfterElton.com posted the song, but British actor Stephen Fry recently tweeted the video out to his users.

AfterElton talked with Jarvis about how a straight guy came up with the idea for the song, his frustration with gay stereotypes and much more.

AfterElton: How did you come up with the idea of writing a song about gay pirates?
Cosmo Jarvis: You know the stereotype of pirates — these gruff dudes who can take anything, they live on maggot-infested biscuits in the middle of the sea, they whip each other, they’re really tough guys.

So if one in ten guys today is gay, then one in ten guys back then must have been gay, so I was just thinking there must have been gay pirates, although pirates were very tolerant toward homosexuals for the most part. But if you did end up on a boat in the middle of the ocean and you can’t run anywhere and everybody is totally against the idea of you having a partner on the boat, I felt that it was the worst thing that could happen to somebody who was gay.

(All photos from "Gay Pirates" courtesy of Robin Hillier)