“I don’t think that shallow a view deserves clarification by anyone with self respect,” the musician wrote

Andy Cohen and John Mayer in Amagansett, New York in August 2023. PHOTO: KEVIN MAZUR/GETTY IMAGES FOR SIRIUSXM

John Mayer is pushing back on the narrative that he and Andy Cohen are anything more than pals — and is asking why their friendship would need to be qualified in the first place.

In an email to The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday, May 9, the musician responded to a portion of the magazine’s cover story with Watch What Happens Live host Cohen from earlier this week that saw him responding to speculation that he and Mayer, 46, are romantically involved.

“Let them speculate! I honestly love John Mayer, and he loves me,” Cohen, 55, told THR. “But because we’re so affectionate toward each other, people don’t know what box to put that in. They assume we’re sleeping with each other, which we are most definitely not.”

In his note addressed to THR‘s co-editor-in-chief Maer Roshan, who conducted the interview, the guitarist questioned why the topic would be of interest when it takes root from a “deeply flawed” premise.

“Hi Mr. Roshan,” Mayer began. “I read your interview with Andy Cohen, and was intrigued by your line of questioning regarding our friendship. You posited that ‘your friendship with Mayer has been a subject of intense speculation. People seem dubious that a straight rock star can have a close platonic relationship with a gay TV personality. I think this is somewhat of a specious premise. First, there is a long and storied history of ‘rock stars’ (not mocking, just won’t refer to myself as one) befriending gay icons and artists.”

He continued, “Second, I think that to suggest that people are dubious of a friendship like mine and Andy’s is to undermine the public’s ability to accept and understand diversity in all facets of culture, be it in art or in real life. I’d like to think they’re sophisticated enough to see a relationship like ours without assuming it must include a sexual component. That turns the concept of being gay into an ignorantly two-dimensional one, which I know you know it’s not. I don’t question that at all.”

Andy Cohen and John Mayer on Watch What Happens Live in New York City in April 2022.CHARLES SYKES/BRAVO/NBCU PHOTO BANK VIA GETTY

“I love intelligent discourse — as I hope you’ll find this email to be — but I bristle at your selectively flimsy logic meant to coax an answer, when the premise itself is so deeply flawed — and quite possibly not even quantitatively true,” Mayer wrote.

“Quite simply, if someone is dubious of a platonic relationship between a straight man and a gay man, I don’t think that shallow a view deserves clarification by anyone with self respect, be it Andy or your publication. Reinforcing the idea that any gay/straight relationship needs qualification that it’s not sexual devoids everyone involved of their dignity.”

He signed the email, “Respectfully, John Mayer”

Cohen and Mayer have been friends for years, bonded by a shared love of the Grateful Dead, whom they went on a road trip to see back in 2015. (Mayer now performs with the latest incarnation of the band, Dead & Company, who will launch their residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas later this month.)

“John Mayer and I have what some would consider an unlikely friendship. He’s one of our greatest living guitarists, and I’m regarded as the dude that stirs the s— on late-night TV,” Cohen wrote in an article for Entertainment Weekly at the time. “We do have one thing that bonds us: our love of the Grateful Dead. So when the band did five shows this summer — their last ever — we used their Santa Clara, California, gigs as an excuse to take a road trip and bro it up.”

Andy Cohen and John Mayer on Watch What Happens Live in New York City in October 2023.CHARLES SYKES/BRAVO VIA GETTY

During an appearance on Table for Two with Bruce Bozzi in December 2022, the talk show host revealed how his relationship with the “Wild Blue” singer is different from his other close pals.

“John Mayer is someone who is very in touch with his emotions,” Cohen told the host. “He very quickly in our friendship started saying, ‘You know what, I gotta tell you something — I love you.'”

He continued, “He is someone to say, ‘I love you and I cherish you and I cherish our friendship’ — just this stuff that straight guys aren’t necessarily supposed to say.”