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YouTube has become the easiest way to create and publish long-form videos directly to an audience. YouTubers frequently post content online, sharing their personal lives, and this would sometimes entail making “coming out” videos or speaking in detail about their sexuality.
Releasing such emotional videos seems like a grueling task, and these YouTubers “came out” to their fans with poise and creativity.
5 YouTubers who came out on video
1) Nikkie Tutorials
The Dutch makeup guru, who has taken over the makeup genre on YouTube came out in January 2020. The video titled I’m Coming Out. holds over 37 million views. The beauty blogger became popular on YouTube after her video The Power of Makeup went viral, and inspired several women worldwide to showcase their bare faces. As of today, the YouTuber has over 13.8 million subscribers.
In her coming-out video, the makeup legend came out as transgender but admitted to never liking labels. She said:
“When I was younger I was born in the wrong body which means that I am transgender now. It’s so surreal saying this, filming this video is scary but it feels so liberating and freeing. Here we are. I am Nikkie Tutorials and I am Nikkie. I am me. We don’t need labels, if we are gonna put a label on it, yes I am transgender but at the end of the day I am me.”
2) Eugene Lee Yang
Eugene Lee Yang, a member of YouTube group The Try Guys came out as gay in a breathtaking dance performance in June 2019 on The Try Guys channel. The video, which has now garnered over 19 million views depicted Yang’s journey towards discovering his sexuality, dealing with the pressure to conform, and finally living authentically.
The South Korean-American YouTuber became popular online after appearing in several Buzzfeed videos and gathered a huge fan following after posting content for The Try Guys group. Lang has been an active advocate for various human rights and LGBTQIA+ charities including The Trevor Project.
3) Joey Graceffa
The YouTuber who became popular for his vlogging and gaming content came out in May 2015. He released a music video titled Don’t wait where one could see the content creator come out as gay. The video garnered over 41 million views and over 1.2 million likes. Graceffa went on to release another video where he further addressed his sexuality.
“I’m gay. I did it in the music video in a way that was um not officially saying it because in a way I think it’s not necessary to have to say who you are and do like a video just talking about your sexuality because my life is so much more than that and I wanted to do it in a creative way. It’s also important to be proud and open with who you are and show people that it’s okay to be gay and that’s who I am and I’m not going to hide that anymore.”
4) Gigi Gorgeous
The beauty YouTuber came out as pansexual this year after coming out as transgender and gay years ago. The makeup guru, who has now garnered over 2 million subscribers on YouTube, titled the video coming out for the last time… | Gigi.
Gigi mentioned in her final coming out video that she would not be deleting her previous “coming out” videos as she claimed that it was part of her journey where she was “searching deep into who she really was.” In her final “coming out” video she said:
“I have gotten married to the same person who has since transitioned so now I am not with a girl, I am with a man. I am making a coming out video as a married woman two years into my marriage and five years into my relationship. I realized that I didn’t fall in love with Nats because of his gender, I fell in love with the person that he is. I just want to let everybody know that I am pansexual.”
She went on to mention how she defined being pansexual. She said that for her it meant “falling in love with the soul of somebody.”
5) Daniel Howell
The British YouTuber, who previously went by the username 'danisnotonfire', came out as gay in a drama-comedy sketch in January 2019 after taking a lengthy hiatus from his YouTube channel. The content creator often created videos with fellow YouTuber Phil Lester. In 2019, Daniel revealed that he was romantically involved with Lester but preferred to keep his relationship private.
The YouTuber’s coming out video garnered over 12 million views. In the video he mentioned that he “doesn’t feel the need to use labels.” He also discussed the internalized homophobia he dealt with throughout his life, which drove him to a suicide attempt as a teenager. Daniel Howell also stated that he came out to his family over an email.
