More dudes should snuggle with their platonic guy friends, dammit.
Or, at least that’s the consensus online after Pedro Pascal posted a sweet photo of him and his close friend, actor Oscar Isaac, on his Instagram StoryMonday.
In the captionless photo — which is credited to Isaac’s wife, director Elvira Lind —a smiling Isaac can be seen holding Pascal in a tender embrace. Pascal looks completely at peace while he holds onto the thumb of Isaac’s hand that is hugging him.
When the photo made its way onto Reddit, it opened up a conversation about masculinity, being that the two tend to portray manly men who adhere to traditional gender roles in many of their projects.
“More hot celebrity men known for playing tough guy/bad ass/strong man characters displaying ultra non-toxic masculinity please 🩷” a Redditor said.
“They’re so cute. It’s wonderful to see affectionate friendships between men,” said another.
“Dudes should be able to hug,” echoed a third.
“I wish I had a friend that I can be as intimate with,” another Redditor said. “It’s hard having to keep up the ‘machismo’ facade that people expect in my country.”
“As a happily married straight man, this is the kind of friendship I would kill to have,” another Redditor added. “Deep friendships filled with love are just deep friendships filled with love. Those friends are lucky to have each other.”
It’s unclear what prompted Isaac to hold Pascal. But considering the two men have been friends since 2005, when they were cast in an off-Broadway play together, Isaac is probably well aware of Pascal’s issues with anxiety.
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In 2023, the “Game of Thrones” alum revealed that he tends to pose in a very specific way on red carpets to help soothe his anxiety. He said he places his left hand on his torso where he physically feels the emotion.
Pascal appears to have been using this coping mechanism on the red carpet since at least 2005, in which he seems to be doing a version of the pose with his other close friend, actor Sarah Paulson.
