ILoveMakonnen Comes Out As Gay, Read The Best Twitter Reactions

There was once a time in hip-hop when homophobia ran rampant in the genre but now, more and more rappers are beginning to be open about their sexuality.

In 2012, singer Frank Ocean penned a coming out letter and on Wednesday, rapper Taylor Bennett, the brother of Chance The Rapper, announced he was bisexual. Now, ILoveMakonnen, famous for his hit song “Tuesday,” has revealed he is gay.

The Atlanta artist took to Twitter in the early hours of Friday morning to make the announcement. “As a fashion icon, I can’t tell u about everybody else’s closet, I can only tell u about mine, and it’s time I’ve come out,” he tweeted. Following his announcement, fans of the artist tweeted their support with one Twitter user writing, “It takes a strong person to be open abt (sic) about something like this. I love you bro. I’m always in your corner.”

While ILoveMakonnen has avoided talking about his sexuality in the past, he has called out hip-hop for its homophobia. In a 2016 interview with XXL, Makonnen called the genre “anti-gay.” The rapper added, “One thing about hip-hop and rap that really gets on my nerve is that they got so much to say about gays, lesbians.”

Makonnen also criticized people for bashing gay people but wearing clothes designed by people who are gay. “All these designers that y’all are spending on are [gay]. So y’all need to stop saying all that gay this, gay that, like it’s something wrong with that… So you going to be bashing gay people, you know what I’m saying? I’m here to break all that.”