He supposedly struck a deal with The Sun to pre-empt this: “So my sexuality could be revealed on my terms,” he told me. Some people say the press knew Justin was gay and were planning to out him. By coming out in The Sun, he hoped its reporters would cease hounding him: “I genuinely thought that if I came out in the worst newspapers and remained strong and positive about being gay, there would be nothing more that they could say.” Justin responded by saying that his fans read the tabloids, not the Sunday Times. Justin faced a lot of criticism for choosing to come out in the right-wing, homophobic Sun newspaper, which many black people also regarded as racist. Nevertheless, there were moments during his coming-out saga when he confessed that he felt “incredibly, almost suicidally, lonely”. Justin later told The Voice: “Those who say that you can’t be black, gay and proud of it are ignorant.”
Some were, but many denounced him for bringing “shame” on them.Īs far as I recall, not a single black public figure supported his coming out or condemned The Voice and others in the community who had trashed him. He told me that since black people knew the pain of racial prejudice and discrimination, he expected they’d be understanding and supportive. Although Justin later said that he “never once regretted” coming out, the hostile reaction from many in the black community hurt him deeply.
