Khalid Comes Out as Gay After Being Outed Online: ‘I Was Never Hiding’

Khalid is opening up about his sexuality — even if it’s not something he originally intended to talk about.

In a series of posts to his X on Friday (Nov. 22), Khalid officially came out as gay, simply posting a rainbow flag emoji and asking his fans to move on to the “next topic please lol.” When another user followed up for clarification, Khalid confirmed he identified as gay, writing “and that’s okay.”

In another tweet, Khalid made his reasoning behind the posts explicitly clear. “I got outted [sic] and the world still continues to turn,” he wrote. “Let’s get this straight (lmao) I am not ashamed of my sexuality! In reality it ain’t nobodies business! But I am okay with me.”

Billboard has reached out to representatives for Khalid for comment.

As reported by Rolling Stone, the outing that Khalid referred to came from a series of since-deleted tweets from X user and recording artist Hugo Almonte. After writing that a “gay R&B singer” had once “tried to set me up and lie that I broke into his house,” Almonte shared a since-deleted photo of himself and Khalid.

In a statement given to the outlet, Almonte claimed that he wanted to “share how he tried to use his power to silence me because I simply ended our relationship,” and said he received death threats from many accusing him of “chasing clout” with his claims. “I was holding onto this for five years, and I finally had enough.”

When one fan pointed out that Khalid’s song and music video for 2022’s “Satellite” were already an “LGBTQ anthem,” Khalid replied, letting them know that they were absolutely correct. “thank you!!!! I was never hiding,” he said.

Read Khalid’s coming out posts below: