Khalid said he was "not ashamed" of his sexuality when coming out on social media after he was publicly "outed" by a fellow singer. Photo / Getty Images
Khalid said he was "not ashamed" of his sexuality when coming out on social media after he was publicly "outed" by a fellow singer. Photo / Getty Images
The singer, responsible for some of the biggest hits of the past decade, has confirmed his sexuality after private photos were shared online.
Chart-topping American pop and R&B singer Khalidhas publicly addressed his sexuality for the first time, telling fans he’s gay – while also confirming he was “outed.”
Khalid, 26, has had a string of smash hit singles over the past eight years, including Love Lies, Young Dumb & Broke and Eastside.
In the first of a series of posts made on social media platform X today, Khalid tweeted a rainbow flag emoji, writing: “there yall go. next topic please lol [sic]”.
Responding to one person who asked if the tweet meant he was gay, he wrote: “I am! And that’s okay.”
“I got [outed] and the world still continues to turn. Let’s get this straight (lmao), I am not ashamed of my sexuality! In reality, it ain’t [nobody’s] business! But I am okay with me. love yall [sic],” he wrote.
The “outing” Khalid refers to appears to comprise a flurry of social media posts made today by openly gay internet personality Hugo D Almonte, who shared a photo of the pair together with the caption: “B**** ass [ninja emoji] lied and said that I broke into his house ‘cause I didn’t want him.”
That tweet had followed a series of other posts from Almonte alluding to sexual encounters with a “gay R&B singer”.
Almonte’s post provoked an immediate negative reaction on social media.
Hugo D Almonte posted this photo of him with Khalid (left) on social media. Photo / X
“I hate when people OUT someone just because yall broke up! that’s NASTY [sic],” one person wrote, while another replied to say “exposing someone is never cute.”
“You’re actually weird for this and absolutely nobody is on your side,” said another person.
Despite the outing, Khalid told another fan today he wasn’t really in the closet, he just chose not to talk about his private life.
“I wasn’t hiding anything! It’s just not any of your business,” he wrote.
Since debuting with the single Location in 2016 when he was 18, Khalid has been a hugely successful artist with regard to generating hit singles – particularly in Australia, where more than 20 of his singles and collaborations have gone platinum, some many times over. Two of his high-profile collaborations – 2018’s Billie Eilish duet Lovely and Benny Blanco feature Eastside – have both gone platinum 11 times each on the Aria charts, making them among the best-selling songs of all time in Australia, with sales of more than 750,000 each.
