Here’s the thing, unless either the writers directly indicate they are supposed to be gay, or otherwise the narrative makes it so obvious that they are gay that you don’t even need word of god to figure that out [and just so we have a clear definition that we can agree on, by “obvious”, I mean something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBTQrNeg7Ow, where the Biker-like guy, Otokosuki, leaves absolutely no room for doubt regarding his sexuality for anyone watching.] we can’t assume they are gay, especially not if journalists just make the innuendo. Journalists have also claimed that Poe Dameron and Finn were gay as well, yet last I checked, Finn’s dating a girl, and even Poe is implied to possibly have a thing going on with Rey by the end of The Last Jedi.
In other words, do not buy into journalist claims of characters being gay or anything else unless it’s either directly backed up by the films or otherwise explicitly stated via word of god. Especially in this day and age where journalists are more likely to just treat their own opinions as facts.
And make no mistake, when I heard that news earlier, I also wasn’t fond of the direction they were going in, but fortunately, I didn’t read anything in there once the film came out other than just their being friends (I read far more hints of Claire Bennet and Gretchen being a lesbian couple in the fourth season of the NBC series Heroes than I ever did with Baze and Cherrut, and believe me, I was NOT happy with the direction that series went when it got to that point, and would have most likely quit the show after the season was over had they not already cancelled it due to poor ratings.).
Nowadays the effort is to make it subtle. They will keep their fingers on the pulse of the audience, and they will keep feeding increased dosages as often as they think it is safe to do so.