(Photo: Rick Mackler/Rangefinders/Globe Photos)

Rocco and Jai Squash Gay Dish
“It’s a little annoying.”
Jai Rodriguez wants to set the record straight: He and Rocco DiSpirito are just friends. First came a claim on a Website, Gawker.com, that he’d been seen “at a midtown gay bar recently sucking face with the fallen TV-kitchen hottie responsible for $20 plates of drama, New York meatballs, and more than his mother’s share of agita.” DiSpirito wasn’t named—but didn’t have to be. Then came the second item, in which the two were overseen whispering at the Bewitched premiere and skipping the after-party for drinks together. “Nothing happened!” Rodriguez says. “They made it into something it wasn’t. We hang out, go to dinners, completely platonic. But I love him like a brother.” Via e-mail, DiSpirito said only, “My reaction to that rumor is LOLOLOLOLOL!!!” “It’s a little annoying,” says Rodriguez. “I used to feel very comfortable saying that Rocco was my gay boyfriend, but now I have to rephrase that. He’s my straight boyfriend.”
—J.Y.