Khalid Gay Outed Controversy

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Overview

Khalid Gay Outed Controversy refers to American singer and songwriter Khalid coming out as gay after a series of tweets about his sexuality were posted by influencer and rapper Hugo D Almonte in mid-November 2024. In Almonte's now-deleted tweets, he shared pictures with the singer, claiming he was being threatened by Khalid for allegedly trying to break into the singer's house. The singer emphasized on X / Twitter that he has not been “hiding” his sexuality from fans or the media. The controversy sparked a series of debates and memes about Khalid's outing, which mainly consisted of people not being surprised by the news and criticizing Almonte's attitude.

Background

On November 22nd, 2024, X^[1] user @hugodalmonte shared a photo alongside the American singer Khalid with the caption, “B**** ass [ninja emoji] lied and said that I broke into his house ‘cause I didn’t want him.” The tweet has since been deleted, but netizens screenshotted^[2] the post (seen below), which amassed over 771,000 views and 2,100 likes in two days.

Developments

Khalid's Response

A few hours after Hugo's tweet went viral on November 22nd, 2024, Khalid posted a response on X,^[3] coming out as gay and writing that he was "outted and the world still continues to turn." He also added^[4] that he's not ashamed of his sexuality, "In reality it ain’t nobodies business! But I am okay with me 🖤 love yall." The tweet (seen below) garnered more than 17 million views and 280,000 likes in two days.

Hugo D. Almonte's Response

On November 23rd, 2024, Almonte posted a statement on X (since deleted) in which he claimed he was under attack "because of how I look and how easy it is to blame someone who looks like me," referencing his skin color. X^[5] user @MFG_iWPJ shared a screenshot of Hugo's deleted statement (seen below), which garnered more than 22,000 views and 240 likes in a day.

Online Reactions

Fans and netizens showed support for Khalid's coming out and criticized Hugo D. Almonte's attitude of forcefully outing the singer as the controversy spread in late November 2024.

For example, on November 22nd, 2024, X^[6] user @atb__william compared the Spotify page of Khalid and Almonte (seen below), writing that "Hugo could never," referencing the 51 million monthly listeners the singer has achieved. The post amassed more than 5,900 likes and 400 reposts in two days.

On the same day, X^[7] user @umcornell posted a funny interaction on X of a user who mistakes Khalid with "DJ Khaled:https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/people/dj-khaled (seen below), which received roughly 52,000 likes and 2,600 reposts in two days.