Trans TikToker Jesse Sullivan receives death threats for dating reality star Francesca Farago
Francesca Farago calls out ‘huge amount’ of hate trans boyfriend receives. (Getty/Instagram/Jesse Sullivan)
Netflix star Francesca Farago has opened up about the hate her boyfriend, trans TikToker Jesse “Sulli” Sullivan, has received since they started dating.
The model and reality TV personality, who appeared in Too Hot to Handle and Love is Blind, pushed boundaries by bringing queer dating to the traditionally heteronormative formats.
Although her current Netflix series Perfect Match shows her dating fellow reality star contestants, she has actually been in a relationship with trans masc Sullivan since July.
The pair were on-and-off for a short while because of the physical distance between them, but have since confirmed they are in an exclusive relationship, regularly giving updates on their life. Sullivan, who has almost three million followers, went viral when sharing his journey of raising a child as a trans dad.
Despite an overwhelmingly supportive fan base, Jesse Sullivan has been the target of transphobic trolls, Francesca Farago told Variety.
“My boyfriend is trans and he gets death threats on his posts,” she said. “He’s just a nice normal dad. He’s so sweet.”
Farago, who is bisexual, says this hate extends to the whole LGBTQ community: “It’s crazy, the hate towards our community. The hate is a lot louder than anything else. People are still getting death threats and people are still getting attacked in public.
“It’s very dangerous for people in our community, especially certain members.”
It’s why she is so keen to bring more representation to dating shows, and even asked to date women in Perfect Match, leading to a romantic dalliance with contestant Abbey Humphreys.
“I wasn’t even sure if it was going to happen because it was a heterosexual show. But I’m glad that it happened, and I’m glad that that relationship happened. I kind of just switched up the game,” she said.
“The more representation we have, the more positive it will be because people will see that we’re just normal people.”
Speaking about her relationship with Sullivan, she told Elite Daily: “We’re so in love and that’s obvious with what we post. Some couples share a filtered version of the happy times, but they don’t post anything negative. We actually don’t have any negative times. It’s all positive.”
Adding that “the transphobia can be real”, she even revealed the interesting strategy she has to tackle the trolls by leaving hate comments up to see who likes them.
Perfect Match is streaming now on Netflix.
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