Troye Sivan had words for straight people who have gotten “way too comfortable” discussing gay celebrities and their sex lives — especially those who are fond of throwing around the term twink.
“This is a general note: if you say twink when you meant to say faggot, that’s still a slur,” the Rush singer said in a September 15 TikTok video. “That’s like our word. I don’t think straight people should be using that.”
Although “twink” isn’t considered a slur by most queer people when used by queer people, it can be used mockingly to stereotype, deride, and sexualize some queer men. We also can’t ignore the fact that the straight internet at large often misunderstands what the term actually means.
Sivan made his video in response to a since-deleted TikTok (which Sivan stitched in his own post) from the celebrity blind items account @celebriteablinds_, in which a new piece of gossip claimed that the musician is “just happy to be on the road and hitting Grindr at every stop” during his and Charli XCX’s joint Sweat tour.
“[Sivan’s] label doesn’t contribute at all to his tour, so he doesn’t really care about sales,” the blind item continued. “[...] If the ticket sales don’t increase, the label is likely to pull the plug.”
Sivan set the record straight in his own TikTok, saying, “Straight people are getting way too comfortable… [Charli and I] are playing 22 shows across the country that are 95% sold out, by the way. The only city that we’re flopping in is Nashville, and it’s at 78%.”
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He went on to point out that claiming that he only toured in order to hook up is a “genuinely homophobic” stereotype.
“Don’t sex shame me. First of all, I don’t need to travel the country to get laid,” Sivan added. “I can get laid wherever I want. I can get laid in L.A. I’m going on tour because I released an album, and because people are buying tickets to see the show. So, fuck you.”
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