Kit Connor came out as bisexual—though not on his own accord.
On Oct. 31, the Heartstopper star called out social media users who had been accusing him of queerbaiting, a term used to describe people who lean into suspicion that they may be queer in hopes of attracting attention and publicity. In a tweet, Connor slammed the allegations and wrote, “i’m bi. congrats for forcing an 18 year old to out himself.”
The British actor—who plays Nick Nelson, a teen coming to terms with his sexuality, on Heartstopper—also noted, “i think some of you missed the point of the show. bye.”
Connor’s tweet comes five months after he confronted the allegations online. “twitter is so funny man,” he tweeted on May 2. “apparently some people on here know my sexuality better than I do.”
Later that month, the His Dark Materials alum called the queerbaiting accusations “mean” and defended his choice to keep his sexuality private.
“I’m perfectly confident and comfortable in my sexuality, but…I’m not too big on labels and things like that,” he shared on the Reign with Josh Smith podcast. “I don’t feel like I need to label myself, especially not publicly.”
Connor also said that it was “strange” for people to make speculations about him and his Heartstopper co-star Joe Locke, who also plays a queer character.
“To start speculating about our sexualities and pressuring us to come out when maybe we’re not ready,” he continued, “I feel like that’s a very interesting, slightly problematic assumption to make.”
Amid the accusations, Connor announced in September that he was stepping away from Twitter.
“this is a silly silly app,” he tweeted on Sept. 12. “bit bored of it now, deleting twitter.”
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