When Sam Smith released their latest song, I’m Not Here To Make Friends during the last week of January this year, they immediately started getting trolled for their costumes in it — mainly a pink, fluffy outfit that they were shown to be wearing at the beginning of the song and a white corset that they flawlessly flaunted later on. Our cis-heteronormative world could somehow not accept a song about self-love and sexuality created by a queer person. Many of the trolls further went on to criticise Smith’s body weight while attempting to boycott the video in masses.
The self-proclaimed critics belonging to the conservative groups trolling Smith also chose to pick on certain other flaws within the video. Some claimed that it was overtly sexual and normalised vulgarity while others felt the imagery, gestures and costumes used in it weren’t appropriate for children. They, thus, argued that the video should’ve been age restricted by YouTube.
Nonetheless, while there were people who weren’t pleased with how Smith chose to represent themself and their sexuality, there were also quite a few who decided to publicly support the artist. Sooz Kempner, for instance, took to twitter to explain how there had been numerous cisgender male artists including Freddie Mercury who had employed the use of similar aesthetics in their music videos. However, none of them had faced any criticism while doing so. Alongside Kempner, Guardian columnist Owen Jones’ tweet calling out the ones scrutinising Smith also went viral. Jones pointed out that the theme of sex and sexuality have been present in modern pop culture, in general. However, the fact that it is only Smith who is being slandered for choosing to embrace their sexuality solely sheds light on the internalised queerphobia of those who refuse to accept the video.
Another criticism that the video received was related to it involving scenes representing bondage — something that, according to many, shouldn’t be promoted that openly. It is funny how none of the cisgender men complaining about Smith had an issue with Taylor Swift’s Look What You Made Me Do or Nicki Minaj’s Only or Doja Cat’s Freaky Deaky, all of which depicted bondage in some way or the other. It must be noted that neither of the three songs mentioned were age restricted on YouTube or stirred debates about how they might impact children. In fact, bondage and other BDSM aesthetics have constantly been used in music videos by both popular and less popular artists.
In a world where cisgender, heterosexual women and men are constantly given a pat on their backs and are immediately labelled as queer icons the moment they queerbait, we cannot let a queer person represent themself the way they wish to. Harry Styles and Ariana Grande can get celebrated for being queer presenting even when they have never really referred to themselves as queer, yet individuals who are open about their genders and sexualities are accused of making “the LGBT community look bad.”
Despite everything that has been mentioned so far, something else that we need to recognise as we continue to talk about Smith is that they are still a white AMAB of British descent. Additionally, even though they are not skinny, as Jones had pointed out in their tweet, they are not visibly overweight either. Thus, they are, at the end of the day, at a much better position both socially and politically as compared to most of the overweight non-cis male queer individuals, especially those of colour. Smith is also a celebrity who not only has fans and followers, but also a massive reach which allows their issues to come to public attention which eventually leads them to be able to receive the support they require and deserve. Therefore, if someone like them can face something this unpleasant, then there are multiple other members of the LGBTQIA+ community whose life experiences are far worse and genuinely unthinkable.
This article received an ‘honourable mention’ in Her Campus Chapter Awards 2023 under the category of ‘Best Feature: Entertainment’ among 300+ chapters