Today it's French.
In case you're keeping track, I was an English and Modern Languages major, so I studied Spanish, French, German, Latin, and a little Greek and Russian. French is my favorite language, maybe because there is so much queer content in the bandes dessinées: Tintin and Captain Haddock, Alix and Enak, Corentin and Kim, Spirou and Fantasio.
So when Néo the One, a 21-year old gars from Bordeaux, popped up on my recommendations, I started research even though I never heard of him. Turns out that he's got 778,000 Instagram followers.
Néo the One posts mostly beefcake and family photos. Here he's doing sit-ups in the snow, in three different pairs of pants.
But being exceptionally hot is not enough to get 778,000 followers. He must be famous for something else.
Néo's younger brother, Swan the Voice, age 15, has 668,000 Instagram followers. They also have a Sweo Shop where you can buy clothing "made with fun."
Left: At a Halloween party, they're dressed as superheroes Homelander and Soldier Boy from The Boys, who happen to be sex partners.
Their main claim to fame is a Youtube channel with seven million subscribers.
Some of the videos are in French:
Ne jamais passer des dumplings en classe! (Never boil dumplings in class).
J'ai volé les Noveaux Brainrots! (I stole the new brainrots)
Un diner presque parfait (An almost perfect dinner).
Some are in Franglais:
Live Piscine (swimming pool) Chill
Some are in English:
"Eat 100 years of candy"
"Who is the murderer in our villa?"
"I built a secret swimming pool in my room."
Swan & Neo Brothers, an animated tv series, premiered in 2022. 52 episodes have aired to date, dubbed in many languages, including Albanian, Finnish, Hebrew, and Thai.
Left: A gars from Bordeaux, in case I can't find any n*de photos of Older Brother Neo.
More after the break
They have two bandes dessinées (comic album series). Swan & Néo Brothers depicts domestic adventures, and Swan et No science fiction and fantasy, with titles like Les Aventuriers du temps (Time Travelers), L'École ensorcelée (The Enchanted School), and La Pierre de Mystérite (The Mysterite Stone).
Plus books, magazines, and a lot of merch.
The boys' parents, Gaëlle Burlot and Gregory Thonet, started the Youtube channel in 2015, when Swan was three year old. The family was in financial distress, and hoped that Swan's singing ability would bring them some money. This constitutes youth exploitation in French law, so they shifted to pranks and humorous povs involving the two brothers.
In 2023, the parents were convicted of fraud, abuse of weakness, and harassment, in an unrelated case: they and other Thonet family members used fake profiles and images of celebrities to trick 340 "disabled and vulnerable" men into signing up for their Eurochallenges Marriage Agency.
They charged up to 22,000 Euros, and then used aggressive collection techniques that lead to at least one suicide.
After a trial and appeal, they were sentenced to two years in prison, suspended, and a fine of 100,000 Euros.
The brothers were not involved in the marriage agency case, but they suspended their youtube site during the trial to avoid the negative publicity. It returned in 2025, after the family moved to Portugal.
Their most recent video is "What's in Swan's Backpack?" It contains deodorant, cheese, an electric pen, a rubber duckie, a math test with a failing grade, a Rubik's Cube, and a note that he won't let them read. Neo asks if he has a "compain" (boyfriend), but he could have been saying "compaine" (girlfriend): the words sound the same.
Question #1: Any queer content?
None that I could see.
Question #2: Any n*de photos of Neo, the older brother?
All I could find was this artistic bondage scene. It says Les Eyzies, a site known for its prehistoric cave art, about two hours by car from Bordeaux. It's possible.
Question #3: Are either of the brothers gay in real life?
Neo has a girlfriend. Swan has some femme mannerisms, goes to a Halloween party as a bi superhero, and introduces us to "mon compain," which could mean buddy or boyfriend. Some of the comments on his videos suggest that he's gay.
I'm going to call it: gars is gay.
Maybe I'll get a Spanish celebrity tomorrow.
Spirou and Fantasio: The Bellhop and his Boyfriend
Tintin and Captain Haddock
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