Seventeen year old singer/songwriter, Shawn Mendes, addressed some pretty heavy rumors via his Snapchat earlier on today. While having a scroll along the comments section of an interview of his that was posted on YouTube, Shawn was overwhelmed with the amount of comments claiming he “gives off a gay vibe”.
https://twitter.com/theshadyfacts/status/746031716725366785
“First of all, I’m not gay. Second of all, it shouldn’t make a difference if I was or if I wasn’t, the focus should be on the music not my sexuality.”
We applaud you Shawn Mendes, for addressing this with such dignity and class. He makes it clear that it shouldn’t matter if he is or if he isn’t gay. The only thing we should be worried about is the music. His sexuality doesn’t affect the way he sings, it doesn’t affect the way he plays the guitar, so why worry about it? He explains that people need to stop judging and making assumptions based on the way people speak and act.
“Now I’m not frustrated because people were saying that I was gay at all, I have no problem with that ’cause it wouldn’t make a difference to me. I’m frustrated because in this day and age, people have the audacity to write online that I’m gay as if it were a bad thing”
It is not a bad thing to be gay and it is so important that Shawn made that clear. He’s not bothered that people assume he’s gay, he’s bothered that people use being gay as an insult as if it was degrading or wrong to be gay.
So thank you, Shawn Mendes, for being so wise and so kind and standing up for the LGBTQ+ community, especially during Pride Month. It is important to let fans and anyone know that being gay is okay but also that assuming someone is gay and labeling their sexuality for them is not okay. Just keep spreading the love.