

These widely available forms of media serve as tools of socialization, socializing young consumers to adhere to problematic beliefs– in this case, the belief that someone’s sexuality is a joke. Influencers wield tremendous power in teaching their young audiences to distinguish right from wrong. The trend sheds light on the tremendous privileges that non-LGBTQ+ people hold when it comes to their sexuality- for them, who they love isn’t something to be stigmatized or criminalized for.Īs consumers of digital media, it is our duty to make sure we do not enable toxic behavior on online platforms like TikTok.

To queerbait to millions of young fans is to normalize a culture of casual homophobia that devalues queer voices. Treating one’s sexuality as an April Fools’ joke invalidates our stories - decades-long stories of fear, exclusion, and criminalization - and isn’t even remotely humorous. What strikes me as problematic is how Tiktok influencers are mocking that process to evoke sympathy while simultaneously commodifying LGBTQ+ culture. Coming out forced me to confront colossal uncertainties in my life: what if my friends thought I was weird, or what if I was kicked out? Along the way, I encountered hate in multiple forms- homophobic slurs hurled at me, intolerant family members and sneers from classmates.Ĭoming out is a ceaseless cycle of conformity, confusion and self-acceptance. But it wasn’t easy - definitely not as easy as lip-syncing to a will.i.am song. Karama Brown is a black gay influencer who you may have. It’s a freeing process- since then, I’ve had the privilege to broaden my horizons, discover new passions and experiment with my identity. As you can assume from this picture this influencer is pretty much on every list of hot gay men. why james charles kind of snap /Rg8JhrLgbn Queer TikTokers Benji Krol and James Charles publicly criticized these pranks, alluding to their own experiences with homophobia to condemn queerbaiting. Viewers have been quick to point out the April Fools’ trend as queerbaiting, a marketing ploy that manipulates sexual ambiguity to tease or gain sympathy from an LGBTQ+ audience. Ivan Martinez has now deleted this TikTok in which he appears to come out as bisexual. I thought that zsmitty’s tik tok was real at first but it turns out that this was an april fools joke- when will people learn that coming out as an april fools joke is NOT okay? /PeEu2UoMnG Shortly after posting these videos, the TikTokers revealed that they were, after all, not queer. Notably, Olivia Ponton, Zachary Smith and Ivan Martinez, all of whom have more than one million followers, followed this trend.
GAY TIK TOK STARS SERIES
It’s this multifaceted trauma that goes years back, because he was taken by the Demogorgon and then his friends, they never acknowledged him, and now he’s scared to come out and doesn’t know if they’ll accept him.Many straight TikTok influencers, however, have failed to grasp the seriousness of coming out: in a series of April Fools’ pranks, the majority of which are now deleted, several non-LGBTQ+ Tiktokers lip-sync to will.i.am’s “Boys & Girls” to come out as queer. “This isn’t just a single layer thing of he’s struggling with coming out. “I think it’s all just part of the challenge of acting,” he said. When Variety asked Schnapp about how he navigated the attention on Will’s sexuality while he was also still figuring himself out, the actor pointed to all the tribulations the character has faced over the course of the series. They are writing this real character and this real journey and real struggle and they’re doing it so well.” That is exactly who I was when I was a kid.’ That just made me so happy to hear. “People have come up to me - I was just in Paris and this, like, 40-year-old man came up to me and he was like, ‘Wow, this Will character made me feel so good. “I think it is done so beautifully, because it’s so easy to make a character just like all of a sudden be gay,” Schnapp said.

Will’s sexuality had been an open question since the first episode of “Stranger Things,” but Schnapp had always deflected questions about the character’s identity, noting instead that the character was still “up to the audience’s interpretation.” In his July interview with Variety, Schnapp said that he wasn’t entirely sure what “Stranger Things” creators Matt and Ross Duffer had in mind for Will, and once he did, he didn’t want to spoil the way the show revealed the character’s journey in Season 4. Now it’s 100% clear that he is gay and he does love Mike.” From comedy to home improvement, these are some of the best queer. “Now that he’s gotten older, they made it a very real, obvious thing. 18 Of The Best LGBTQ+ TikTokers Of 2021 That Everyone Should Follow I spent way too many hours scrolling on TikTok in 2021. “It was always kind of there, but you never really knew, is it just him growing up slower than his friends?” Schnapp said.
