Todrick Hall admits he was initially ‘apprehensive’ about sharing his sexuality with Taylor Swift
Todrick Hall and Taylor Swift in ‘You Need to Calm Down’ (YouTube)
Singer and RuPaul’s Drag Race star Todrick Hall has described his friendship with Taylor Swift as one of his “favourite things he’s done”, but admits he hesitated before opening up about his sexuality.
Taylor Swift has previously spoken of how a question from Hall convinced her to speak out for LGBT+ equality and create the queer-themed anthem ‘You Need To Calm Down’, whose lyrics aim to combat homophobia.
When Hall asked her “What would you do if your son was gay?” Swift said that “the fact that he had to ask me… shocked me and made me realise that I had not made my position clear enough or loud enough”.
Speaking to Attitude, Hall explained why he felt the need to broach the topic with her, admitting that he was unsure how tolerant she’d be towards his homosexuality.
“All I really wanted her to know was that, as somebody who was a bystander, I didn’t know how comfortable she was with [my sexuality], and I was apprehensive about fully opening up to her,” he said.
When Swift confirmed that she would love and support a gay child no matter what, Hall says he told her: “It’s important that you let people know that you feel this way.”
Hall collaborated with Swift on the video for ‘You Need To Calm Down’, which led to a significant spike in donations to the LGBT+ advocacy group GLAAD.
He said that he enjoyed being able to “help her realise that using her voice is a humongous instrument that is able to change the minds of those who, without her, may have never looked at gay people as actual people”.
He continued: “I can’t help but take a little bit of ownership of the fact that I helped her realise how powerful it would be for her to make a statement like that.
“I always wanted to handle the situation delicately because it’s not my place to tell someone else when it’s the right time for them to talk about something.”
