SAN FRANCISCO, CA – DECEMBER 1,2018: Khalid attends the 2018 WiLD 94.9’s FM’s iHeartRadio Jingle Ball at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, California
Grammy-nominated R&B singer Khalid came out over the weekend — with a push.
The singer-songwriter, 26, confirmed for fans on Friday that he’s gay after he was outed online.
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“There y’all go,” Khalid posted to X along with a Pride flag and exclamation points. “Next topic please lol.”
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The singer seemed to take the episode in stride, maybe because his sexuality was already an open secret among fans and the music industry.
“I was never hiding,” he said in one of several posts on the subject.
“The closet is glass,” one fan confirmed.
Khalid broke out in 2016 with his debut single, “Location,” and its 2017 follow-up, “Young Dumb & Broke.” Both songs peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 Top 20.
His 2022 hit, “Satellite” — with the ironic hook, “A line that leads me straight, straight, straight to you” — became an LGBTQ+ anthem at dance clubs.
Khalid’s confirmation came in the wake of angry, since-deleted posts by Instagram-famous content creator Hugo D Almonte just hours earlier. Almonte made accusations inspired by what seems like an ugly breakup.
Almonte is an out bisexual Dominican American from New York who posts a lot of VGL selfies. In March 2023, he released a debut album titled “El Can Se Acabó.”
One post claimed, “I was dating this dumb a*s singer he’s ugly as f**k but he tried to set me up and lie and say I broke into his house because I broke up with him like why would I go to your house and do all that if I broke up with you dumb a*s!”
Almonte followed this up on Instagram with a pic of himself and Khalid canoodling.
The word was out.
Khalid’s maybe-one-time boyfriend followed up with a sort-of explanation.
“My intentions was never to out someone who’s clearly been out already in the community in Los Angeles,” he told Vulture.
“My intention was to share my story and share how he tried to use his power to silence me because I simply ended our relationship, he was afraid of what I might say.”
Khalid hasn’t addressed Almonte’s accusations.
Overwhelming support for the singer online was tempered with anger he’d been pushed out of the closet.
“You should’ve been able to tell the world on your own time,” one fan wrote. “i’m sorry people are clout chasers.”
Khalid was philosophical.
“I got outted and the world still continues to turn,” he wrote. “Let’s get this straight (lmao) I am not ashamed of my sexuality! In reality it ain’t nobodies business! But I am okay with me 🖤 love yall.”
I got outted 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 nobodies business! But I am okay with me 🖤 love yall
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