Predator Or Prince? Out Footballer Jake Daniels Met 46-Year-Old Partner When He Was 17
New discourse has sprouted up online after out footballer Jake Daniels revealed in an interview on the How To Be A Man podcast that he began talking to his partner Mark via Instagram when he was 17-years-old.
Daniels is reportedly 28 years younger than Mark, which has led many online to speculate over the ethics of speaking to minors online, reports Q News.
What constitutes grooming?
Jake Daniels is known for playing the forward position for EFL Championship club Blackpool. He is also among the few openly gay professional footballers in the world; he was only the second to come out in British men’s football since Justin Fashanu in 1990.
What has sparked intense discussion is the significant age difference between Daniels and his partner, with reports suggesting that Mark is 28 years older than Daniels. In an interview with Rylan Clarke on the podcast How To Be A Man, the 18-year-old footballer told Clarke that he met his “soulmate” after coming out as gay.
“There was just one day, I was about to get on a train and I went on my message requests just to have a gander and the top message was from my partner, just congratulating me,” says Daniels. “We just got chatting from there, I think we FaceTimed that night and then met up a few days later in Blackpool and then, you know, we’ve been together ever since,” he says.
A conversation has been happening around age gaps in relationships and how the ethics play in when one half of a partnership is old enough to be the other’s parent. The celebrity couple who’ve become the face of this conversation is Aaron-Taylor Johnson (32) and his wife Sam Taylor-Johnson (56).
Some argue that age doesn’t define maturity and that two consenting adults should be left to their own business as long as no abuse is present.
Others argue that Daniels being underage when the dynamic began sets a disturbing precedent. The power dynamics of someone in their late teens and a 46-year-old has these commenters concerned despite Daniels’ celebrity.
DNA OPINION
Although fraught with scandal, it’s difficult to throw a blanket statement over every age gap dynamic because people and relationships are nuanced and filled with complexity. There are mature 18-year-olds and childish 50-year-olds and individual experience is important. But the internet was not designed for nuance, so we will leave it to you to decide for yourself.
