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Powerhouse and cultural trendsetter Madonna (Madonna Ciccone) gave social media a complete shock by coming out this week.
In a newly uploaded TikTok video, the Vogue hitmaker held up a pair of pink neon panties, with the caption on the video reading, “If I miss, I’m gay.” She then threw the bright pink panties towards a closed rubbish bin, which was going to be an obvious miss, shrugged her shoulders and walked away from the camera.
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This revelation left some confused, but, for other adoring fans, it came as no surprise. Madonna has had a long history of LGBTIQ+ advocacy, and has been kissing girls since 2003, when she puckered up with fellow pop it girl Britney Spears at the MTV Video Music Awards. In a 1991 interview with The Advocate magazine, she even said that everyone had a bisexual nature about them.
Whichever way you look at it, Madonna’s coming out makes for an interesting turn in pop culture history and is just one instance of absolutely iconic coming out stories done by celebrities.
Here are five times celebrities completely shut down the internet with their unexpected landmark coming out announcements.
Lil Nas X
This one is for one of the most iconic rappers to come out of the 2010s and our favourite internet troll and funny guy, Montero Hill, also known as Lil Nas X.
After releasing his hit Old Town Road, the rapper would rise to the top of almost all charts, including the country charts, and dominate the hip-hop industry with his extravagant and eccentric nature, which completely shifted the paradigms of rap for men.
On the last day of Pride Month in June 2019, he would make a coming out post that read:
“Some of y’all already know, some of y’all don’t care, some of y’all are not going to f**k with me anymore. But before this month ends, I want y’all to listen closely to C7osure,” referring to his newly released track.
The result of his coming out has created a new generation of hip-hop, and Lil Nas X is the revolutionary visionary behind the movement.
Zaya Wade
We’ll start this one with something a little more emotional ... with 14-year-old Zaya Wade, who made headlines when she come out as transgender to her family, basketball legend Dwyane Wade and his wife actress Gabrielle Union.
In February 2020, Dwyane’s child, who had been an openly queer boy at that point, would sit his parents down and come out to them as a transgender girl. She would then assume her new and liberated identity as Zaya Wade, and become the trans icon that young people didn’t even know they needed.
No one ever expects a black man to not only accept but completely embrace his trans daughter, but that is exactly what Dwyane did, and the internet was almost collectively bawling their eyes out at the pride he showed for his beautiful daughter. In a clip shared by her mother, Union, Zaya would say:
Elliot Page
Elliot Page is one of the only celebrities who has come out twice; and the second time was more glorious than the first.
In 2014, the actor stood on the stage during a speech at the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Time to Thrive conference and come out as gay.
He would come out again as a transgender man in December 2020, through a heartfelt statement posted to all his social media accounts. The response was incredibly positive, and Page has gone on to reprise roles in shows such as The Umbrella Academy.
Stephanie Beatriz
I think a lot of queer people, myself included, have had a crush on the strong, tight-lipped and mysterious Rosa Diaz from the US show, Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
After doing five seasons of the show, Stephanie Beatriz’s life would become strangely close to that of her character. She would come out as bisexual on the show and reveal a secret girlfriend who she had been seeing, while simultaneously coming out to the entire world.
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In a 2018 article with Vulture magazine, she said:
“I came out slowly. Here’s the thing: some of the time, I’m in a couple that passes as straight. I could choose to stay in that straight-passing world, and that would be fine, except it doesn’t feel authentic."
Tyler the Creator
This one came as a shock to the entire world, and that’s why we saved it for last.
After years of anti-gay lyrics, imagery and rhetoric, US rapper Tyler the Creator (Tyler Okonma) would absolutely shake the internet up by coming out as queer in a few cryptic lyrics in his 2017 album Flower Boy.
However, the signs may have been there well before that.
In his 2011 song Yonkers, Tyler would say:
“I slipped myself some pink Xannies/ And danced around the house in all-over print panties/ My mom’s gone, that f**king broad will never understand me/ I’m not gay, I just wanna boogie to some Marvin.”
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However, it became official news in his 2017 song I Ain’t Got Time, in which he says:
Although not an outright admission, this made the internet go crazy.
Tyler the Creator continues to allow rumours to circulate about various queer relationships he has been in and hearts he continues to break.
