Bill Simmons (a.k.a. “The Sports Guy”) writes for ESPN, but occasionally his column delves into the entertainment world. Here’s his theory about Axel Foley (of the “Beverly Hills Cop” trilogy), and whether or not he was gay.
During breaks in the Skins-Hawks game, I was flicking over to “Beverly Hills Cop” on one of the HD channels, and maybe it was seeing Jenny Summers’ come-hither smirk in high definition for the first time, but how did I never notice the smoldering sexual tension in the scene when Axel brings his old friend Jenny back to his Beverly Hills hotel room and she lays down on his bed and bats her eyelashes at him for a couple of minutes? For God’s sake, she did everything but take her clothes off and assume the missionary position, and yet Axel was more interested in ordering room service for Taggart and Rosewood. I don’t get it.
Which leads me to my $64,000 question: Was Axel Foley secretly gay?
In the first two “Cop” movies (I refuse to admit that “Cop 3” happened), Axel didn’t have a girlfriend, and we never saw him hook up with a single girl. In “Cop 1,” he convincingly pretended to be Victor Maitlin’s lover in a public restaurant. In “Cop 2,” he ruined what could have been a fantastic time for his buddies at the Playboy Mansion by starting a fight for no real reason with a suspected bank robber. In “Cop 1,” he made Taggart and Rosewood follow him to a strip joint, almost like he was overcompensating, then spent more time looking around the club than looking at the girls. In both “Cop” movies, he ably served as a platonic friend for Jenny and Lt. Bogomil’s daughter (without ever making a move on either of them); he clicked with two obviously gay characters (the ones played by Damon Wayans and Bronson Pinchot); and he loved playing a perverse cat-and-mouse game with Taggart and Rosewood (two guys). And he was willing to risk his job and his life to avenge the murder of his old “buddy” Mikey, who just happened to be coming back to “crash” at Axel’s apartment on the night he was murdered. We’re sure Axel Foley was straight? We’re sure?
Of course, he forgot the biggest clue of all – banana in the tailpipe.
