‘Heartstopper’ star Kit Connor slams fans for forcing him to come out as bi
Kit Connor was “forced” to come out publicly as bisexual after “Heartstopper” fans accused him of “queerbating.”
The Netflix star took to Twitter to address the speculations on his sexuality after he was spotted holding hands with Maia Reficco, his costar in the upcoming “A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow.”
“back for a minute. i’m bi. congrats for forcing an 18 year old to out himself. i think some of you missed the point of the show. bye,” Connor — who plays a closeted rugby player on “Heartstopper” — tweeted on Monday.
The English actor had actually quit the social media platform one month ago after fans claimed he was “queerbating” (which means to hint at, but not confirm, a person’s sexuality to attract an LGBTQIA+ audience) for not publicly labeling his sexuality.
“this is a silly silly app. bit bored of it now, deleting twitter :),” he had tweeted at the time.
Following his “forced” coming out, many rushed to the comment section to offer him support.
“I truly don’t understand how people can watch Heartstopper and then gleefully spend their time speculating about sexualities and judging based on stereotypes. I hope all those people are embarrassed as F–K. Kit you are amazing,” Alice Oseman, creator of the “Heartstopper” graphic novel, tweeted.
“feel for you Kit, sending all the love i have your way,” one fan wrote.
A second commented, “i love u kit im sorry this has been so disgustingly rough on you. been treated so unfairly.”
Connor had previously opened up about the pressures he, as well as the rest of the “Heartstopper” cast, felt to “label” their sexuality because of the characters they play.
“We’re still all so young. To start sort of speculating about our sexualities and maybe pressuring us to come out when maybe we’re not ready,” the young actor said in the “Reign With Josh Smith” podcast in May.
“For me, I just feel perfectly confident and comfortable with my sexuality. But I don’t feel the need to really, you know — I’m not too big on labels and things like that. I’m not massive about that. I don’t feel like I need to label myself, especially not publicly.”
He continued, “It feels a bit strange to make assumptions about a person’s sexuality just based on hearing their voice or seeing their appearance. I feel like that’s a very interesting, slightly problematic sort of assumption to make.”