It came as news – or old news to come – a few days ago that little Joe McElderry, of X Factor winner fame, has recently come out as gay.
I applaud Joe for being so brave about coming out and being himself in public. I personally suspected a long, long time ago (come on, it was obvious!), when Joe was still belting his heart out on the X Factor, probably before Joe himself knew. I think we all suspected, deep down!
There is the cynical side of me that does think it could be part of a carefully orchestrated publicity stunt. After all, it has got him a LOT of media attention and many A-listers are checking in on him sending their messages of support. And with the new X factor 2011 just weeks away, you can’t help but wonder if it’s a little too coincidental that all of a sudden Joe has realised he was gay after the mysterious hacking of his twitter account, within such a short space of time and in the run-up to his releasing his debut album ...
But maybe I’m being too cynical. Admitting you are gay is an extremely difficult thing to do anyhow, let alone for someone as much in the public eye as he is, and to be honest when his career isn’t even forged yet he was taking a huge risk.
No, I have no doubt that Joe was simply coming to terms with being himself and knew he was going to be outed sooner or later, and chose to tell his fans himself.
It’s refreshing to see someone as young and bold as Joe do this, because it shows times are changing and people who are gay no longer are feeling compelled to live a lie. In the past, movie stars like Rock Hudson or rugby player Gareth Thomas spent their whole careers hiding their sexuality their sexuality was only revealed to the world once they had been firmly established.
Good on you, Joe – for not being afraid to be yourself.
Wednesday 4 August 2010
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