“Excuse me … Can I ask you a question?” Curious Chris Stanley queries queers & queens.

PHX ATTRACTIONS

by Deon Brown

“Out daughter or THOT son?”

Never at a loss for words (well, there’s been a time or two he might’ve been tongue-tied), the intrepid Man on the Street, Gay on the Go social media reporter Chris Stanley a.k.a “StanChris” asks people from all walks of life (yes, even the straights) the hard hitting questions that his 1.4 million followers on TikTok (And Instagram. And YouTube. And Snapchat. And Twitter. And Facebook. And he just got a thirst trappy OnlyFans account, too.) really want to know. The irresistible 23-year-old twunk and longboard athlete from New England seems to be everywhere – surveying and celebrating the crowd around him. Even Madonna likes him.

Sorry, Chris is off the market; for over two years he’s been with his bear-y boyfriend, Bret LaBelle, 49, a Boston police officer who competed on Survivor (season 33, “Millennials vs. Gen X”) and The Amazing Race.

ION Arizona turned the tables and asked StanChris a few questions.

ION: You’re all over the place! I saw one of your recent TikToks, and you announced, “It’s Power Bottom Autumn!”

StanChris: There’s “Hot Boy Summer,” “Hot Girl Summer,” and we’ve just got to continue with the a descriptor of autumn, so it’s “Power Bottom Autumn.” The power bottoms are on the prowl; the dad bods are coming back in fashion. Sweatpants are out and about. It’s time to find a man to hibernate with for the winter – well, for anyone whose single. I’m already taken, but, yeah.

ION: Why did you decide to launch a career on social media and did you think it would take off?

StanChris: Originally my career started because I wanted to take a break after I graduated high school and I decided to take a gap year instead of going to college. And then that was when ‘rona hit. That made me not want to go to college at all. So I said, “Okay, I need to start looking at ways I can make money.” I worked at a grocery store and at Walmart, but I was, like, “I don’t like this at all,” so I started trying to make money online and then that’s where I got the idea to start my career. I didn’t really expect it to take off, but I had some random video that got a lot of views and – I don’t know –people thought I was cute, I guess. So that definitely didn’t hurt me, then I just kept building it up from there.

ION: What do you think you’d be doing if you weren’t doing social media?

StanChris: I always thought maybe I’d be a soccer player. I also wanted to be a therapist at one point after I came out in high school, sort of when everything went wrong for me. I thought of also being a massage therapist because I like giving massages. So maybe one of those or maybe something completely different.

ION: What is the most rewarding part of your social media career for you?

StanChris: Making people smile and maybe being a role model for queer people in general, including younger people – specifically LGBT youth in high school – that you can really do whatever you want with your life. I know everyone says that, but when I was in high school and I came out, it was the worst two years of my life. I want to show them that you can get past it, get over it, if it’s even bad. A lot of times I post more body positive posts when I’m talking about how I like bears and chubby guys. I like making people feel more confident because there’s a lot of pressure in the gay community to be skinny, fit, and stuff like that.

ION: Is it strange for you to see yourself growing up on your social media platforms?

StanChris: It honestly is; in some of my earliest videos I’m just, like, “What was I doing?” It’s definitely interesting to look at my early videos and see just what I was trying to do, what my mindset was, and also how far my ideas and my editing ability has come. I look back and I’m, like, “Wait, this was such a good idea but it didn’t get a lot of views, so maybe I’ll try it again.”

ION: You do longer format videos on YouTube. How many videos do you make every day? Is this hard to keep up with it?

StanChris: It’s definitely a lot to keep up with. I now have an editor who helps edit my short form content as well as another editor for my long form, but I still do a lot of my own editing. I like to do maybe five or six short form all in one day, and then I don’t really have to worry about short form for the next two or three days. Or I can start working on long form because those can take a lot longer to do, but typically it varies.

ION: There must be times when you hate your phone and the camera.

StanChris: If I’m passionate about it, I really enjoy editing it and I look forward to it and making it into something complete. But for some videos where it’s just a lot of content, like the interviews, I have so much content and they’re not as fun to edit because it doesn’t have as much potential. It’s a lot of work.

ION: You meet a lot of people in your “Man on the Street” videos. Is that rewarding?

StanChris: I really love meeting those people. I’m fine with asking random strangers to interview them. A lot of people recognize me on the street and they kind of know who I am and what I do, so it’s a lot less awkward for me to ask if I can interview them. It’s good to have an in-person connection with them, but also it’s really fun meeting just completely random strangers who I would normally never talk to if I wasn’t making videos.

ION: Do many of your your interviews go haywire? I’m specifically thinking of the gay guy on the beach who gets snippy with you. (I’ve seen your rebuttal video, too.)

StanChris: That was really the only time a gay guy has really been kind of mean like that. It was out of nowhere because I always ask these people if I can interview them beforehand – I didn’t just run up to him. I asked, “Hey, can I interview you?” and he said, “Yes.” Then he said that. [“You get the fuck outta here.” — ed.] It was kind of out of the blue and I didn’t really know how to react.

There was maybe two other experiences that I had with straight guys. So where one was just a straight guy being really super awkward and I asked him to do something gay for $20, and then he just touched his friend’s nipple and said, “Okay, give me the $20.” And I was just like, “Okay.” But the other one was, I was just asking general kind of gay trivia questions to these straight guys in Florida, and I mean, they were laughing about it too, so they weren’t serious, but it was just, I didn’t feel like the safest, I guess, with it.

ION: What is something about yourself that you would like our readers to know.

StanChris: People always think I’m really, really outgoing, but in person I’m actually kind of shy and a little bit more reserved. It’s really when the camera’s on that I go into this mindset of being a lot more outgoing. It’s okay to not always be so outgoing. The other thing is that I love long boarding. It’s my favorite hobby.

ION: So where do you see yourself in, say, 10 or 15 years? What can we expect from StanChris?

StanChris: I would really love to have some type of reality show. I’ve been really thinking of some interesting ideas, it would definitely be LGBTQ, but not exclusively LGBTQ. I know it would be a lot of work, a lot of lot more production, but that would be really fun. You never know! I could maybe try and do some red carpet interviews at events like the Queerties or the GLAAD Awards within the next couple years – that would be really fun. Specifically in 10 years? I don’t really think that far ahead, I guess.

ION: You’re young, and I don’t mean this disrespectfully, but you can’t stay frozen in time as the twunk, StanChris forever.

StanChris: (laughs) I hope I can evolve and become a hot daddy at that point.

ION: So, Madonna is a fan of yours.

StanChris: That was crazy! She saw a video I made in a street interview with someone who’s a very big fan of hers, and then everyone kept tagging her. She ended up seeing it and she reposted it on her Instagram story, which was crazy for a legend as big as Madonna to be reposting me. Sometimes I make these interviews about celebrities and I think, “Maybe they’ll see it or something. Maybe they’ll comment.” But she actually went all the way and reposted it! I was freaking out with my boyfriend, like, “Oh my god, Madonna reposted me!”

ION: Now all you have to do is get Taylor Swift.

StanChris: Oh my god! I would love if Taylor Swift saw one of my videos and reposted it, that would be insane! I’m a huge Swiftie!

ION: You’ve done several collaborations with – he’s got several screen names: B33fyOtter, JoshBigosh, OtterSquatter. I

StanChris: Well, I can spill some exclusive tea for you: so we did have a little fling. (laughs) No, I’m just kidding! We didn’t have a fling. Yeah, he is really cute, but we’ve always just kind of been friends. Same thing with Art Bezrukavenko, who I make a lot of videos with.

ION: Does your boyfriend Bret, or your friends ever get annoyed with all the video content that you have to make?

StanChris: Bret, maybe a little bit at first because he didn’t really know what to expect, but now he’s definitely up for it. My other friends are always down to be in my videos. My family loves being in videos with me, too. I always try to make videos during Christmas or Thanksgiving when my whole family gets together. It hasn’t really been a burden for me in that way. Everyone’s down to help out and make videos.

ION: One final question for you: this interview … kiss or slap?

StanChris: This interview would definitely be a kiss. Definitely. And not just like a peck, maybe, like, a little French kiss.

[Awww! That works for me! — ed.]

Check out all of StanChris’s social media platforms at TwinkStann.com

Models: Claudia B, Piper M’Shay and Mitchell Pierce

“It was a dark and stormy night …”

Did you ever hear the tale about couple who’s car broke down one night and there was a maniac on the loose with a hook for a hand? It’s a true story. Or the “Vanishing Hitchhiker”? True story.

Do you know what happens when you say, “Bloody Mary” three times in front of a mirror? Totally true. “Candyman” … true story. The scariest story of all … “The Drag Queen Who Wasn’t Tipped Enough”? That one’s totally true.

Gather close to the fire, because it’s time for another round of frightening Halloween parties at “Camp Charlie’s.” Join in for bloodcurdling, hair-raising events, and watch out for things that go, “Hey, girl! Hey!” in the night!

October 14: Charlie’s annual “Fire Ball” cash & prizes for Best Demon/Devil costumes. It’s a helluva good time!

October 23: “Dead Divas Karaoke” hosted by everyone’s favorite she-devil herself: Claudia B

October 24: “Hallowingo” (Halloween Bingo) hosted by Piper M’Shay and Adriana Galliano

October 25: “BSeen!” Halloween Edition. Category is … “UFOs Are Real!” Don’t miss an out of this world fashion show. Who will be serving up “Alpha Centauri Realness” on the runway? Only Claudia B knows.

October 26: Double, double, toil and trouble! It’s time for the “Bitches’” — Oops! That’s “Witches’ Ball” hosted by Piper M’Shay.

October 27: Pack your sleeping bags! It’s the first night of Camp Charlie’s Halloween parties with costume contests, prizes, drink specials, and free burial plots in the cemetery of your choice!

October 28: This is the big one! Massive patio expansion, live concert by Queen tribute band “Kings of Queen,” food trucks, vendors, ghouls, goblins, ghosts, ho’s and mo’! Costume contests with cash prizes.

Don’t miss this one … or you’ll be sorry! Get your tickets at CampCharlies.com

October 29: Get out of your grave and come on down! (Or up!) It’s “Camp Charlie’s Halloween” with costume contests and prizes.

October 30: “Scaryoke” … Do the “Monster Mash” at Halloween Karaoke with Claudia B

October 31: Show up for a fright night you won’t forget at “Camp Charlie’s Halloween” featuring costume contests, prizes, and more. Maybe someone will scare the pants off of you! (Hopefully!)