Is the Emcee gay?

I'm so tired of these "is this or that character gay?" discussion threads.

Really ... in this day and age, who cares? What difference does it make?

As many others said very articulately, it's ambiguous (he flirts with Sally, yes, but also the girls, the band, the audience and a gorilla). In the play (at least the 3 versions I've seen, including 2 Broadway revivals), he does end up in a concentration camp (well, undeniably implied by the uniform with pink triangle) and the role was played by Neil Patrick Harris and Alan Cumming. . . which would suggest he was gay or bi (I doubt the Nazis distinguished).

I definitely think his sexual orientation is deliberately ambiguous. That's part of the theme of the movie. I don't think "labels" are necessary for the appreciation of the film.

In January 2015 Joel Grey opened up about his sexuality in an interview with People Magazine, stating: "I don't like labels, but if you have to put a label on it, I'm a gay man."

I concur with those redirecting from "gay" to "decadent." But here's the thing... the emcee is not "real".

The emcee is the embodiment of the decadence of the Weimer Republic which Hitler sees as the decay of German society. The emcee's apparent "love" for Sally Bowles is more about how her indifference to "what's going on" (the rise of Nazi party) reflects the ignorant bliss of Weimar decadence, a blissful ignorance that will not survive the rising tide of Nazism.

The final act of the emcee is an apt reflection of the end of the Weimer decadence.

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I'm trying real hard to be the shepherd.

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As I see it, the MC is not to be understood as an actual person, rather as a symbol or an archetype. What he might symbolize is not completely clear to me, perhaps an attitude of enjoying life while it lasts, even though you know that the catastrophe is waiting round the corner.