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Shawn Mendes is speaking out about the speculation surrounding his sexuality.
In a video widely shared on social media, the Canadian singer, 26, addresses the crowd during his For Friends and Family Only tour at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado.
“There’s something about my sexuality, and people have been talking about it for so long,” he said between songs, reflecting on the fact that his career started when he was 15 years old.
Experts say that when someone experiences public criticism of their sexuality, as Mendes has done, it can impact their mental health and prevent them from safely exploring who they are.
Mendes said the speculation always “felt like an intrusion into something personal.”
Shawn Mendes has been pressured and bullied to talk about his sexuality for years, even before he was 18.
He talked about it tonight on his show at Red Rocks.
“The real truth about my life and sexuality is that, man, I’m figuring it out just like everyone else. I don’t really know… pic.twitter.com/HhUYucRKoc
He described sexuality as a “beautifully complex thing” that is “difficult to categorize.”
“The real truth about my life and my sexuality is that, man, I’m figuring it out just like everyone else. And I don’t really know sometimes and I know other times, and it feels really scary because we live in a society there is a lot to be said about life.
“And I’m trying to be really brave and allow myself to be human and feel things. And that’s all I want to say about that for now.”
Mendes followed his comments by taking action The mountaina song in which he discusses his sexuality.
The lyrics include: “You can say I’m too young, you can say I’m too old, you can say I like girls or boys, whatever suits you.”
Some 2SLGBTQ+ advocates praised Mendes for his comments.
“He should be commended for starting a much-needed conversation that young people need to hear, especially from a celebrity perspective,” said Omid Razavi, executive director of It Gets Better Canada, a national charity supporting 2SLGBTQ+ youth.
Years of speculation
There has been speculation about Mendes’ sexuality for years.
When he was 17 years old, the singer spoke out via his Snapchat account after scrolling through some YouTube comments that suggested he was giving off a “gay vibe.”
“First of all, I’m not gay. Second of all, it shouldn’t make any difference whether I was or not,” he said.
Mendes then spoke on a podcast in 2020, calling the speculation frustrating. He said he felt anger for the people around him who were gay but had not yet come out, and that he did not know how to respond to the situation.
Razavi said that when people experience this kind of criticism in a very public way, they don’t have the breathing space to figure out who they are.
“No one should be pressured into realizing who you are or who you want to be publicly, or into publicly labeling yourself unless you know you have the space to do so,” he said.
When people try to obtain this personal information, they do so “at the risk of the mental health of the person they are dealing with,” he added.
This kind of pressure can also make a person feel “ashamed and less valid in their identity, which can have negative consequences for their mental health,” said Helen Kennedy, executive director of Egale Canada, in an email to CBC News .
A new study from UBC has found that 2SLGBTQ+ youth in BC have seen improvements in their family lives over the past five years, but have faced increasing public discrimination. As Michelle Gomez reports, organizations like Out on the Shelves are trying to provide more resources to support queer children.
Control can be ‘harmful’
Other celebrities have faced similar criticism from the public.
In 2022 Kit Connor, an actor from Netflix Heart stopper – a love story about two teenage boys – said he was forced to come out as bisexual due to speculation surrounding his sexuality and pressure from people on social media.
“Congratulations on forcing an 18 year old to come out of the closet. I think some of you missed the point of the show,” Connor wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Singer Billie Eilish is another celebrity whose sexuality has been widely discussed. In 2021, social media users accused her of “queerbaiting” after she and several other women appeared in a music video dancing and playing games during a sleepover.
Queerbaiting refers to a marketing tactic that hints at 2SLGBTQ+ representation without actually delivering on it.
“I spent a year watching the entire internet criticize my sister for queerbaiting, when in reality you all forced her to label and come out of herself,” her brother and collaborator Finneas wrote online in a post that has since been deleted .
Such conversations that attempt to label someone else’s sexuality can be harmful, according to Razavi.
He said sexuality and identity evolve over time – something he sees in the young people he works with, who often identify differently now than when he met them. When someone is “forced” to reveal their identity, he added, “you often feel like you’re going to be scarred for life.” And that is not the case.’
“Our culture assumes that everyone will be heterosexual,” says J Wallace Skelton, assistant professor of queer studies in education at the University of Regina. ‘When there is speculation that someone is other than heterosexual, it is often experienced with a certain degree of ridicule, with a certain degree of stigma.
“It really makes it harder for someone to spend time figuring out who they are and how they want to relate to others.”
As for Mendes, Razavi said he hopes he gets “the space to breathe” and “accesses his authenticity by expressing himself through music.”
“And then hopefully the rest will all fall into place,” he said.
