Judas Priest’s ‘stately homo’ Rob Halford thinks we should all have ‘empathy’ with homophobes
Judas Priest’s Rob Halford. (Getty)
Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford has revealed that he “embraces” homophobic bullies online because he wants to find out why they “feel that way”.
The heavy metal star, who calls himself “the stately homo of heavy metal”, told CBC Radio 1’s Q programme that he reads comments left online by homophobic trolls because he think’s it’s “important” to do so.
“Because that way I know that there are still those kinds of people out there,” he explained.
“And I embrace them. I don’t push ’em away; I embrace them. I say: ‘Let’s talk about why you feel that way.'”
Halford urged listeners to have “empathy” for those with anti-LGBT+ beliefs, and said people should be “ready to talk”.
“You can’t put up walls. You can’t suppress. You have to be open, you have to be ready to talk, no matter how difficult it is, because that can help,” he said.
“And if you can help somebody, that’s a good thing to do.”
Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford once had a ‘George Michael moment’.
Rob Halford’s comments come just weeks after he revealed that he had a “George Michael moment” when he was caught cruising in public toilets in Venice Beach, California, by police.
“The police did me a favour by keeping it out of the press because it would have been big news,” Halford told NME.
“I always refer to that, slightly tongue in cheek, as my George Michael moment.
“I was lucky because the sad thing is it makes people who don’t understand the gay community just go: ‘Obviously they’re all just a bunch of perverts.
“And that’s horrible.”
He continued: “I’d like to think for the most part if that incident had broken into the press, then a great proportion of my fans would have said: ‘Well support you and stand with you.'”
Halford famously came out as gay during an interview on MTV in 1998.
