Gay country star Steve Grand: ‘99% of the hate I get is from other gay people’
By Josh Haggis
Steve Grand has claimed that the majority of hateful comments he gets online come from people in the gay community.
Grand shot to fame with the release of his gay-themed single All American Boy in 2013. Following one of the most successful Kickstarter music campaigns in the crowdfunding site’s history, he released his anticipated debut album last week.
In a new interview, the openly gay singer has revealed that “99% of the hate” that he gets online is from gay people who appear to think that he is trying to represent the entire gay community.
“99% of the hate I get is from other gay people,” Grand told The Daily Beast. “People don’t like what I represent, and they think I’m trying to represent the whole gay community just because I’m a gay person and I make music.”
He continued: “By default I’m supposed to represent a whole community? I think that’s ridiculous. When people have expectations like that you’re going to make a lot of them upset– when in fact I’m not trying to represent anybody but myself.”
Grand went on to discuss the infamous racy underwear shoots he did before he found fame as a singer, saying: “I’m not ashamed of my body. I’m not ashamed of what I’ve done. I was a young person trying to find my way and I think it’s really hypocritical of people to look at images like that, not even mine, and enjoy them but then punish the people who are on that side of the camera by saying they shouldn’t be taken seriously.
“I think that is so hypocritical. I think the same thing goes with pornography. I think it’s such utter hypocrisy that so many people in our society were obviously all watching it and yet we treat these people like they’re sub-human. I think it’s just disgusting.” he added.
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