As a teenager, I made the most of my first generation iPod Touch and spent a lot of time watching upcoming videos on YouTube. In those sentimental, on-camera testimonials, celebs like Troye Sivan, Tyler Oakley and Connor Franta — the average suburban youth of the day, despite their not-insignificant YouTube following — would spend up to 18 Minutes to discuss the messy work of figuring out and then sharing who they are. Usually tears are involved.
Fast forward to today, and the popular way of coming out online seems to be very different. More LGBTQIA young people laughing while telling their personal experiences than crying. Case in point: Stranger Things star Noah Schnapp, who is , ended up turning to video-sharing app TikTok to post some a week information. The tongue-in-cheek clip reads on screen, “Frightened in the closet for years when I finally told my friends and family I was gay, So much of what they say is, ‘We know.'” He says into the voiceover, in part, “You know it’s never been this serious.” Schnapp smiles throughout.
“I guess I’m more like Will than I thought,” Schnapp captioned the video, referencing his Stranger Things
The character (the actor was confirmed to be gay before). The clip is TikTok at its peak: casual, playful and full of jokes. It also represents how much pressure some people feel after coming out. In 20 some LGBTQIA people only need 8 seconds to come out, not 20 minutes.
Schnapp’s irreverent coming out is not an exception. More and more queer celebrities are taking their serious moments a little less seriously. Coming out in Hollywood has been chalked up to a casual joke or a spur-of-the-moment post. Some of the cutest examples? Joshua Bassett cracked an off-the-cuff Harry Styles joke, and Lil Nas X used a rainbow emoji.
TikTok is quickly becoming the platform of choice for these casual shows. Last year, actor Shay Mitchell, who starred in Pretty Little Liars and you (Shay Mitchell) also turned to TikTok and it seems to be coming out. She posted a TikTok duet clip in which another user asked, “If you consider yourself bisexual, do you have a green velvet sofa?” Mitchell then proudly displayed her green velvet sofa. Model Emily Ratajkowski joined the trend and showed off her own furniture. She later spoke more deeply about the video and her sexuality, saying, “I think sexuality is constantly changing. I don’t really believe in heterosexuality.” There were other hilarious, flippant moments on the app. Madonna shared a video of herself deliberately trying to throw her underwear in the trash, but without success. “If I miss it, I’m gay,” the text in the video reads. The 64 year-old pop icon finally shrugged.
