Gay X Factor star recalls being ‘outed’ by Dannii Minogue on live TV: ‘What gayer way to be outed’
Dannii Minogue apologised for comments she made about Danyl Johnson’s sexuality. (ITV/YouTube)
Former star of the The X Factor and gay singer Danyl Johnson has reflected on his experience of being “outed” on national TV by judge Dannii Minogue 15 years ago.
Johnson was a contestant on the sixth season of The X Factor in 2009, eventually coming in fourth place. The season was won by fellow gay singer Joe McElderry.
While a then 27-year-old Johnson impressed the judges and viewers alike with his powerful ballad renditions, including of Whitney Houston’s “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength”, his sexuality became the show’s biggest talking point.
Following Johnson’s performance of Jennifer Holliday’s “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” in the first live show, Minogue attempted to make a joke about Johnson changing the song’s male pronouns for female ones.
“If we’re to believe everything we read in the paper, maybe you didn’t need to change the gender reference in it,” Minogue quipped, to a stunned near silence from Johnson and the live audience. That week, a tabloid paper had published a story about Johnson reportedly being bisexual.
Minogue, who is a long-standing LGBTQ+ ally, later offered “sincere apologies” for the ill-judged comment, saying in a statement: “I made a comment about Danyl changing the lyrics of his song. It was meant to be a humorous moment about the fact he has an opportunity to have fun with his song.”
She continued: “An openly bisexual singing a song that is lyrically a ‘girl’s song’. Danyl and I were joking about the very same thing in rehearsals on Friday, so it carried on to the show. I’d like to apologise to anyone that was offended by my comments, it was never my intention.”
Now, 15 years on, Johnson has addressed the controversy again, saying that there is no “gayer way to be outed on national TV than by a Minogue”.
Speaking on the All Out with Jon Dean web series, Johnson said that he “didn’t have a choice” to publicly declare his sexuality while on the show, as Minogue did it for him. Still, he accepted her apology.
“[Judge Simon Cowell] was fricking furious about this whole situation with Dannii. It was 15 years ago, she apologised more times than you could ever imagine. It’s done and dusted,” he said.
He said he had a “casual” conversation with one of Minogue’s aides about whether he should change the pronouns in the song, but decided not to as he wanted a “private life”.
“I think that the conversation might have been had because the judges write their comments in rehearsal,” he said.
“If I don’t forgive her, what’s the point of her apologising? [Should you] never apologise ever again then? That’s what happens. So you have to accept people’s apologies so they’re worth something.
“The reason why I know Dannii didn’t mean it is because, like a child, when they swear and you go ‘What did you say’, they say ‘Um nothing’. She said it word for word. She missed what was funny. Some people are just not funny… And it just went crazy.”
Johnson also revealed how the press story came to be, saying that a journalist phoned him to probe him on whether he’d had male or female partners. After he confirmed he’d had both, the reporter pushed him on whether he found all four judges – Cowell, Minogue, Cheryl Cole and Louis Walsh – attractive.
When he said he did, the press ran with the story.
“Dannii wasn’t just making things up, it was written in the paper. She was just trying to be funny,” he added.
Minogue’s faux pas recently went viral once again, with a social media user sharing the clip on X/Twitter with the caption: “No matter how many times I watch this video I am still stunned like where did she think she was going with this.”
Dannii Minogue has since became best known in the LGBTQ+ community for hosting the BBC’s groundbreaking queer dating shows I Kissed A Boy and I Kissed A Girl.
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