Omar Apollo has been open about his sexuality for a long time. (Getty)
American singer-songwriter Omar Apollo has responded to claims of queerbaiting by reminding people that he is, in fact, queer.
The singer answered first to a tweet asking if he was in his “bi era,” saying “don’t do that,” but soon followed up with a more comprehensive answer.
A tweet rang out who were reading: “Is Omar Apollo another careerbaiting singer? Like the “I don’t label myself, let me cut and paint my nails and say I find another hot guy” type. Because I like his song, but I don’t like supporting straight men queerbating.”
Apollo simply rreply: “No ib sucking dick fr” followed by “from behind” with 100 emojis.
from behind 💯
— Omar Apollo (@omarapollo) November 29, 2022
Although Omar Apollo does not label his sexuality, he has been open about his queerness for a long time, with many songs on his album Ivory about his relationships with men.
“I prefer to make music and talk about what I want to talk about,” he said the Guardian in April. “I heard [homophobic] definitely in my hometown. People called me insults since childhood.
“But on the internet people are very open. I’ve never seen anything bad about gay love songs.”
Although Apollo has never been open about his dating life, he has been linked to Frank Ocean and many believe that the songs on Ivory I’m about him.
The theory started after fans started comparing photos the two had uploaded on social media, concluding that they were on holiday together in Italy.
@reviewshoneybee Hopefully at least one collaboration is coming soon? 👀 #frankocean #omarapollo
♬ Evergreen (You Didn’t Deserve Me At All) – Omar Apollo
In April, Like a virgin Podcast co-host Fran Tirado shared a story about an encounter between Ocean and Apollo for up to three years.
“So when I was driving late at night back from a party at Coachella, I was driving home [with] two friends of friends who are from Mexico and work in the music industry. One of them was friends with Omar Apollo, so we were talking about this new album [Ivory]Tirado said.
“And I was like, ‘That feels really Frank Ocean to me.’ Half of it is very acoustic, sort of. Like John Mayer-ish, “feel good” kind of thing. And then some of it gets a little Latin music. And then the rest sounds like Frank Ocean.
“And I said, ‘Well, he looks a lot like Frank Ocean.’ And the guy looks at me and says, “You know they used to date, right.” They met for three years and broke up and this album, Ivoryit’s all about Frank.”
Fans were delighted with Apollo’s direct response to the queerbaiting claims.
A fan wrote: “The way you could have googled ‘is Omar Apollo gay’ and saved yourself 986 quoted tweets.”
Another added: “Omar Apollo frequently sings about men, dances with fruit like f**k, is literally a TWINK, and people are still confused about his sexuality??????”
Others pointed out how tiresome the discourse is on accusing artists of queerbaiting, saying: “I feel like a lot of younger people are veering dangerously towards ‘men shouldn’t be feminine unless they’re gay.’
Apollo also took to his Instagram to mock those who accused him of queerbaiting, reposting a photo of him with two women with the caption: “To my straight s**t last night” .
Apollo is the latest celebrity to be targeted by allegations of queerbaiting, including Billie Eilish, Harry Styles and Bad Bunny.
However, as shown with HeartstopperKit Connor who was forced to quit Twitter after relentless accusations of queerbaiting, the speech became extremely damaging.