Norman Reedus really doesn’t want his popular The Walking Dead character, Daryl Dixon, to turn out to be gay.

At least, this is what the November 3 issue of the highly esteemed Globe magazine is claiming. According to Celeb Dirty Laundry, insiders have revealed that Norman Reedus is begging producers not to make Daryl the first openly gay male character on The Walking Dead. Reedus is allegedly afraid that his female fans might riot if Dixon turns out to be turned on by the same sex.

“Insiders say he fears the same-sex shocker would hurt ratings by disappointing his legions of female fans. Norman isn’t anti-gay in his personal life, but he’s become one of the biggest male sex symbols in television. He gets thousands of fan letters from women each week – along with dozens of marriage proposals.”

Norman Reedus’ very loyal legions of female fans have given themselves names like Dixon’s Vixens and Norman’s Nymphos. Then there are The Walking Dead shippers who have turned Daryl Dixon into a regular Bella Swan by creating Team Caryl and Team Bethyl. Some fans think Daryl has feelings for Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride) and others believe he’s fallen in love with Beth Greene (Emily Kinney). However, the producers of The Walking Dead are allegedly determined to throw a curve ball at fans by making Daryl Dixon gay.

Some of Norman Reedus’ past comments don’t match up with the GLOBE report. As The Inquisitr previously reported, The Walking Dead star revealed that he’s open to whatever the writers decide to do with Daryl’s love life. He just wants to “play the awkwardness up as much as possible.”

During his interview with GQ, Reedus actually said that he’d love it if Dixon turned out to be “prison gay.” Norman also revealed that the idea to make Daryl attracted to men has been floated around since the first season of The Walking Dead.

“I remember Frank Darabont, after the first season we were at a party in L.A., He said, ‘I’ve got an idea for Daryl. He’s gay. Would you be interested in that?’ I was like, ‘Let me hear you out.’ He said, ‘Well, he’s prison gay—like, you’ll catch him looking at a member of the same sex, but if you mention it to him, he’ll just stab you and be like what the f**k?—he will never admit it.’ I was like, ‘That’ll blow minds—let’s do that.’ And he said, ‘I knew I hired you for a reason.'”

If The Walking Dead writers really want to blow minds, why not make Daryl Dixon bisexual? It would be a way to please the Caryl and Bethyl fans while still keeping the option open to show Daryl falling in love with another man.

Unfortunately, Scott M. Gimple has already stated that Daryl’s sexuality won’t be explored during this season of the show. Gimple told TV Line that The Walking Dead will introduce a gay character sometime in the future, but he wouldn’t say if Daryl Dixon will also turn out to be gay. Gimple points out that Dixon “is a very guarded, very closed-off individual,” so it makes sense that fans haven’t seen him express any romantic feelings for anyone. There’s also the possibility that Norman Reedus’ character could be a virgin—maybe even a gay virgin.

Update: Daryl himself, Norman Reedus, tweeted in response, saying the Globe rumor was… well, you get it.

This is total bs by the way http://t.co/7hiScbUeSh — norman reedus (@wwwbigbaldhead) October 27, 2014

[Image credit: Gene Page/AMC]