The term "it boy" (sometimes "it man") has been used to describe a male exhibiting similar qualities to an "it girl". In 1950, Clara Bow identified Robert Mitchum as an it man.[1] In 1995, Entertainment Weekly referred to Leonardo DiCaprio as "Hollywood's 'It' Boy" because of his "blazing talent and dashing baby-faced looks – a combination of the mystic and the mischievous – that have the praise faucets gushing buckets".[2][3]
In 2024, Vox published an article titled "Every Hollywood 'it' boy is a white guy," criticizing the entertainment industry for focusing almost exclusively on white actors in the 2020s.[4] This phenomenon has also been coined 'Twitter's White Boy of the Month' online.[5] Names often associated with this trend include Jacob Elordi, Paul Mescal, Jeremy Allen White, Robert Pattinson, Josh O’Connor, Matty Healy and Logan Lerman.[6][7]
- ^ Waterloo Daily Courier, 21 September 1950
- ^ "Hollywood's 'It' Boy". EW.com. March 24, 1995. Retrieved 2022-07-09.
- ^ "'It' Boys". New York Magazine. March 28, 2003. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
- ^ Cunningham, Kyndall (2024-06-17). "Every Hollywood "it" boy is a white guy". Vox. Retrieved 2024-09-20.
- ^ "Twitter's White Boy of the Month". Know Your Meme. 2019-08-29. Retrieved 2025-01-07.
- ^ Dazed (2023-09-13). "A definitive ranking of the white boys of the century". Dazed. Retrieved 2025-01-08.
- ^ Garafano, Lauren (2023-01-16). "It's Time To Play Smash Or Pass: "White Boy Of The Month" Edition". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 2025-01-08.