Paul Mescal is Gen Z’s biggest sex symbol right now

The hysteria around a photo of famous celebrity has revealed a very 2024 truth about Brad Pitt.

Paul Mescal is what Brad Pitt was for Millennials and Gen X. He is a sex symbol for Generation Z.

The 28-year-old Irishman got his big break on the limited television series Normal People in 2020, starring alongside Daisy Edgar-Jones. It was a huge hit based on Sally Rooney’s novel, which was also a monster success.

The two played star-crossed hipster lovers. Mescal spent most of the show giving meaningful looks and perfectly playing the working class love interest role.

From there, Mescal has cemented himself into pop culture as a sex symbol with a very Gen Z twist.

Remember when Brad Pitt was the golden boy?

No one cared if he was an evolved or a snappy dresser. Everyone just loved him because he was hot.

The hysteria around Mescal’s looks is very much on par with what Pitt dealt with back in the day, but what seems to have turned him into a cultural icon for the young people is that he shows signs of being evolved.

For a Gen Zer, a woke king is the hottest kind of man.

The internet hasn't coped ever since this photo of Paul Mescal went viral. Picture: X

Brad Pitt is hugely famous. Picture: Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images

He isn’t just known for his muscles and pretty boy looks, although he does have both of those.

His whole image is less gym bro and far more nice man who has a complicated coffee order and could recommend a good book

Right now, Mescal is going viral because a new image of him behind the scenes in the much anticipated Gladiators sequel has hit the internet.

The latest photo has proven too much for Australian Gen Zers, which shows Mescal in all his shirtless glory.

The popular Australian podcast Shameless posted the image to its Instagram account and captioned it, “Happy Tuesday to us”. The comments featured very flustered Gen Zers and Millennials.

“This has made my morning,” one wrote.

“I’m fighting for my life after seeing this,” another observed.

“I thought I had lost interest in men but damn,” someone else shared.

Meanwhile, on Elon Musk’s playground X, people were losing it over the image.

“I have seen this picture more in one day than I have seen my own family this entire month,” one person declared.

“Paul Mescal is so hot,” someone swooned.

“I’m going to have to watch this movie at least twice. One time to look at a hot and bothered Paul Mescal dressed in that, and second time for the plot,” another admitted.

He wears tiny shorts. Picture: Victor Boyko/Getty Images for Gucci

He also wears crop tops. Picture: affinitypicture / BACKGRID

In general, though, what makes Mescal so attractive to young fans is that he comes across as confident and happy to throw out the gender rule book. See? Evolved.

He has been seen running around in his tiny shorts. He is not afraid to let the thigh breathe.

He even turned up at a Gucci event in shorts that resembled boxers more than well-cut pants.

“I’m a big advocate for men wearing shorter shorts,” he said at the event, which was obvious.

As if that already wasn’t attractive enough, he has also embraced crop tops. Not Britney Spears in the 90s style crops, but the stuff he wears does let the belly out occasionally.

He has been seen running around the streets in a cropped jumper, and when he turned up for an interview on Jimmy Kimmel last year, he also wore a cropped jumper.

The actor happily flashed a slice of his belly, and fans loved it again.

“He is too powerful! He needs to be stopped,” one fan joked.

“I’m obsessed,” another admitted.

“Thank you,” someone else said.