‘Plz admit that I’m gay’ – out and proud K-pop singer Holland upset at coming only 10th on gayest K-pop artist survey
- When a survey ranking South Korea’s gayest idols put singer Holland at number 10, he was not happy
- As K-pop’s first openly gay artist, Holland says he counts being 10th as losing
South Korean singer Holland trended on social media on Monday after humorously reacting to ranking a lowly 10th place in a fan survey ranking the “gayest” K-pop idols.
Holland is the first openly gay K-pop singer, and has released several singles since his debut track Neverland in 2018.
The singer, whose given name is Go Tae-seob, tweeted early Monday morning “plz admit that I’m gay” after coming 10th on a list shared by a Twitter user whose current handle is “gayest kpop idol”.
He later shared several screenshots on Instagram, plus a picture of an animated character crying and a screenshot from one of his music videos showing him kissing a man, “I’m in 10th. I lost.”
Publicly out and proud queer artists in South Korea are uncommon, and rare in the K-pop scene. In an interview with Billboard magazine last year, Holland said he pursued a career in the South Korean entertainment world since he had experienced discrimination and saw little representation. He described the process of engaging with his art and fans as a “healing process”.