After YouTuber Adam Beales, aka Adam B, was tapped to host a British children’s TV show, his fake “coming out” YouTube video resurfaced. One LGBTQ activist defended Beales while still critiquing the premise of the video.
In the now-private YouTube video that was uploaded in 2016, Beales messaged his friends and said he needed to talk to them about something. He then sent lyrics from Diana Ross’ “I’m Coming Out” alluding to his coming out as a gay man. During his admission, his friends responded with “knew that anyway” and “about time.”
According to the Daily Mail, the video had about 280,000 views.
Beales, who is known for prank videos and now has nearly 3 million YouTube subscribers, was shocked that not of his friends told him “congratulations.” “This is worrying. This is really, really worrying,” he says in the video.
At the end of the video, he tries to explain the prank and also clarify that he’s not really gay.
“But in all seriousness guys, there’s nothing wrong with being gay. But I am not gay. Just want to clear that up. I am not gay, even though I tried to prank people and they still think that I am gay.”
LGBTQ activist Peter Tatchell told the Daily Mail that the video “trivialized” coming out but that it wasn’t made with “homophobic intent.”
“His response and those of the people he pranked were not anti-gay,” Tatchell said. “If anything, Adam himself became the butt of his own prank. There are bigger issues to get angry about.”
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H/T PinkNews