Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme opened up about his older brother, Jason Homme, and shared his thoughts on his brother’s decision to come out as gay, in an interview with Mercury Studios.
The conversation touched on the challenges his brother faced growing up, the family’s religious background, and what Homme says troubled him most once his brother finally came out.
When asked, “Do you remember the first inkling that you might have had that your brother was gay?” Homme responded with a detailed recollection of his brother’s youth.
“It’s funny. My brother didn’t get bullied, but there was a moment in there, and that was, you know, him being called gay,” Homme said. “You know, he’s a very handsome guy, and girls loved him, and he never seemed to have an interest.”
“He had a girlfriend at one point, and he’s an athletic dude, and he didn’t, like I said, he was a very— he was a popular kid,” he continued. “Like, he didn’t get picked on a lot, but I think everyone goes through that at the moment. I have red hair, and, you know, and there was a moment where that was being thrown at him like it was a negative.”
Homme went on to describe how he responded to bullying situations and the closeness of his relationship with his brother.
“And I just am not good in a bully situation, so I just learned to fight,” he said. “So if somebody ever did anything like that, I was quick to jump in. Yeah. Whether it was someone older, it didn’t matter to me, you know. I think you either, when you have red hair, you learn to either run or stay, and I wasn’t going anywhere, you know. And my brother and I were so tight.”
He then reflected on his family’s religious upbringing and how it may have influenced his brother’s struggles.
“So I think I had inklings of that, and also I recognized my brother’s turmoil,” Homme said. “You know, I really wish that— and we grew up in a religious house, and for my mom’s side, religion is Old Testament. It’s something that you’re afraid of. If you don’t follow this, shit is gonna happen. God’s gonna do some crazy shit, you know. Very Old Testament. So watching my brother’s struggles and not knowing how to name them, I didn’t know for sure. When my brother finally came out, I was like, Yeah, you know.”
Homme explained what bothered him most about the situation once his brother came out.
“The thing that irked me the most is that it took him that long, because I knew the troubles that he was having,” he said. “In a flash, you just knew why they existed, you know? And they could have been assuaged, you know? They could have been neutralized. And so that, I think those are the things that hurt, that you feel like you’ve… Because when you’re learning how to speak, you know, I’ve said the dumbest shit ever in front of tons of people, you know?”
He closed by recalling a specific memory his brother brought up, along with a reflection on their bond today.
“So it’s like, you know, I remember my brother was like, Oh, I heard you say a comment about, you know, gays when you were… But I was like 13 years old, and I’m just, you’re parroting adults,” Homme said. “Yeah. That are adults. But you find out, Oh, this person’s an idiot, what they’re saying, and I’m just parroting what they’re saying because you’re a child. You guys have, like, an amazing relationship. He’s awesome. Yeah. I love him so much.”
This isn’t the first time Homme has spoken publicly about his brother and the bond they share. The two grew up close in age and even closer in temperament, a dynamic that shaped much of Homme’s protective instincts throughout his childhood.
Jason is two years older than Josh, though Josh has said he grew up bigger and stronger than his brother, a fact that fed directly into his willingness to step in whenever Jason faced trouble. Their mother, Irene, raised both boys in Palm Springs, California, often taking on the bulk of parenting duties while their father worked.
Homme’s protective streak toward his brother wasn’t just talk. He has previously described physical confrontations that stemmed directly from defending Jason against homophobic taunts, recalling how he “grew a dislike for bullies” at an early age because of what his brother went through.
“My brother Jason is gay, and at an early age I grew a dislike for bullies,” Homme has said. “Jason is two years older than me but I am bigger and always took on a protective role.”
That protective role, forged in childhood scuffles in the desert town where the brothers grew up, appears to be the same instinct Homme drew on decades later when reflecting on how much earlier his brother’s struggles could have been eased, had the family recognized them sooner.
