Jalen Green Kills It on the Court, in Calvin Klein, and Yes—In Chrome Nails Too
This morning, I learned that Jalen Green, yes, the basketball player, has been anointed one of the new faces of Calvin Klein underwear. On an image shared by GQ, he’s quoted saying: “I can be a killer on the court and then kill it in the fashion world too.” Which is… an interesting energy to bring to underwear. But fine. A kill is a kill.
Nail polish doesn’t out a man’s sexuality. What it outs is his confidence.
Naturally, I went to his Instagram to investigate, because if you’re going to make bold promises in briefs, I need to know what you’re working with outside the free throws. And that’s when I saw it: not the muscles, not the modeling, but the comments. The very first one: “Why is he wearing nail polish?”
And there it is. Apparently, a Black man with painted nails is still scandalous in 2025. People treat it like it’s evidence in a trial, or worse, a clue to a crime. The crime? Daring to accessorize with ten tiny canvases.
Nail Polish Is Not Orientation
Let’s get this out of the way: nail polish does not equal gay. It does not equal straight. It does not equal “down low,” “up high,” or “somewhere in between.” Nail polish equals… nail polish. What it really signals, especially with Black men, is confidence. Jalen’s not intimidated by outdated definitions of masculinity, and honestly, that should scare you more than a coat of Essie.
Black men have been doing this longer than you’ve been clutching your pearls about it.
In Ancient Egypt, pharaohs stained their nails with deep reds to announce status. Not nail art, but power art.
In Babylonia, warriors painted nails before battle. Imagine a man swinging a sword with a matte black mani. You’d run.
Little Richard lacquered up and screamed his way into history, long before Bowie borrowed the idea.
Dennis Rodman turned polish into NBA theater in the ‘90s. He was the original “statement nail,” no caption needed.
And now, Jalen, wearing Calvin Klein and polish like both are birthrights.
The truth is, every time a Black man paints his nails, it rattles the cage of a society that still believes “real men” don’t do decoration. But those rules? They weren’t ours. They were handed down, imposed, and policed. Our ancestors were already painting, staining, and flexing long before colonization told us what masculinity “should” look like.
So if Jalen wants to average 20 points, star in a Calvin Klein campaign, and flash a glossy topcoat while he’s at it, he’s not breaking rules. He’s reminding you that the rules were fake.
Black men in polish aren’t new, weird, or niche. They’re history, they’re style, they’re continuity. And if that is problematic, maybe the nails aren’t the problem. Maybe it’s your imagination that needs a fresh coat or break free from fake standards of masculinity.