When video of young Brendan Jordan vogueing in the background of a Las Vegas news report went viral last month, the 15-year-old became an instant mini-sensation, landing an American Apparel modeling gig and a much-discussed appearance on Queen Latifah’s talk show. It’s natural that along with such exposure for a gay boy who calls himself a queen and identifies with Lady Gaga comes intense scrutiny, but Jordan’s also faced brutal criticism about perpetuating stereotypes.
It’s refreshing to learn that Jordan is so confident and self-aware that he gives not one fuck about all the nasty hatred from anonymous internet trolls. Well, maybe he gives half a fuck since he filmed a video to respond to some of the more vile tweets he’s read about himself.
“If you don’t like this, you can click the X button,” Jordan suggests. Those are some words to live by.
Watch Jordan take down the haters below.
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aliengod
Gag. About a minute into the video I took his advice and clicked the “x button”. Enough with this kid already.
Saint Law
@aliengod: And then you took to Queerty to tell us all about it.
Kangol
So glad Brendan continues to put his thoughts out there. His bravery may help so many young people who are struggling with their sexual orientation because of the homophobia, and the lack of understanding, acceptance and love they encounter.
Roan
Way to go, Kid. Bravo!
Scribe38
Yeah he is over the top and I freaking love it. I wish I was so free at his age. This kid’s sense of self will protect him through all the abuse that will come his way. I was the kid always throwing punches when anyone called me gay or worst, so much energy wasted hiding and pretending.
tradskinhead808
Good for him. I love this kid. I don’t love the homophobia within the Gay community. And I say Gay as in mainly just gay men, since we’re the more like ones in the bunch to perpetuate that self-hatred onto others we see a smidge of ourselves in that shames us. I’m glad this kid doing what ever it is he’s doing. I hope it gets him far in life. And where ever it takes him, I hope his life doesn’t turn him into an old bitter, hissing queen, long before he ages. We need something positive out here these days.
Xzamilio
I’m not a feminine gay man, but over the years, I’ve learned that for them to — at least some of them — to be as authentically flamboyant and over the top as they are takes some serious courage, especially when you have A. Homophobic asshats who target and attempt to bash us– especially them, B. Feminine-gay hatting homos like the one I used to be, who say that they are messing it up for us and “perpetuating the stereotypes”, and C. People in general who look at them as just jokes and not human beings. When I watched this video, all I could do is smile at this kid and give him props on just doing him. I can’t even imagine what his inbox and twitter mentions must be littered with…
I WILL say this though: The overall bitchiness and the attitude though? That’s the shit that does get on my nerves when dealing with certain feminine gay men. However, I put it on par with having to deal with bitchy women or with those dudes who need to always be the macho douchey tough guy hard ass…
jwtraveler
I’m not saying his “style” exactly appeals to me, but it’s wonderful to see a 15-year-old who is so confident in who he is that he can’t be shamed or intimidated by bullies and bigots.
throwslikeagirl
I love this kid. His pic should be in the dictionary after the word, “authentic”. What courage! What groundedness and strength! His parents must be wonderful. On top of everything else, he’s hysterically funny.
tradskinhead808
@xzamilio I agree. And you, it’s sometimes not just the bitchy mouthy types that can get aggravating, but at the end of the spectrum, there’s the overtly compensating gay guys that want to come off so “straight-acting” they end up looking just as comical a someone accused of flaming.
I’ll be the first to say that I’m a tempermetal gay guy who finds it easy to dislike most people, (my handle isn’t exactly subtle, hehe), but I sure as hell can guarantee that if I don’t like someone, it’s nothing to do with the obvious race, gender, indentity…and certainly not their mannerisms.
I don’t where I was going with this but I like the kid. He makes this grouchy old man (not that old really) smile.
JimmyJ
Haters? Lmfao! He’s like 12. Who could possibly hate on a 12-year old kid?
level75RDM
He didn’t come across a obnoxious at all. At least, no more obnoxious than the comments he received. It’s nearly 2015 and there are still gay people who think people like Brendan Jordan “fuck it up for all gay people.” Seems it’s well past time to stop expecting every gay person to act as a representative for the gay community. Brendan Jordan represents nobody but himself. And if people see him and think “That’s what all gay guys are like!,” well, Brendan can’t do anything about other peoples’ stupidity.
DarkZephyr
@aliengod: I kind of feel the same way about you any time O read one of your posts. I think to myself “Gag. Enough with this kid already!”
DarkZephyr
@DarkZephyr: I*
Evji108
@aliengod: Too bad you didn’t just X yourself before you told us about it.
SFHandyman
The boys and girls on the fringes stretch the envelope and make it much more comfortable for all the folks inside. He is taking all the hateful fire and fighting the war to make it easier for all the other gay kids. He is making life easier for them. He is making life easier for you.
sesfm
The only advice to be taken from him is: Forget about the haters, because, as long as you are a predictable, easily understandable stereotype, you can at least find a home in the gay community…well, probably for a few months until they get tired of you.
IvanPH
Gay or straight, let’s stop making stupid and shallow people famous.
craigbrew2
This kid needs to go away. He really should stop and his parents should teach him that all of this over the top stuff will not get him far in life. I wouldn’t hire him and I doubt any other mainstream company will hire him. He’s probably going to be one of those obnoxious twinkie boys selling themselves on the street when he gets a bit older. Either that or he will be a drag queen.
Roan
@craigbrew2:
You’re one of those “straight acting” guys on Grindr with a headless torso pic, aren’t you?
AtticusBennett
this kid is rather amazing – his courage, strength and resilience are exactly what upset people like “Craigbrew2”
he’s Out. he’s Proud. he’s LOUD. and that bothers insecure homosexuals, most of whom are older than him, who simply don’t have the balls to live like he’s living – not giving a f**k what haters think.
every time a gay man complains about “fems” “Flamboyant gays” or “stereotypical queens” what that man is really saying it “my dad calls those guys f@gs and Im not strong enough to stand up to him”
Brendan is more man at his age than his detractors will ever be. and that’s why they’re so angry, and always nothing more than anonymouss-practically–closeted internet commenters: wimps, who feel emasculated because this Little Queen is a stronger, braver and more secure guy than they are.
AtticusBennett
can any of the complainers show themselves on youtube, like he’s doing? no. and that’s the reality. his “haters” are nothing more than insecure wimps who are pissed that the type of gay guy their crap families make fun of is, frankly, a stronger man than they are.
Alan down in Florida
Let’s not forget it was the flamers who kick started the gay rights movement. The ones with this “This is who I am and go f**k yourselves if you don’t like it. It was all of us closeted quiet ones who hid away while they did the visible heavy lifting. They were the pioneers whose extravagance drew the attention of the media and made our plight a newsworthy story. True that the media turned them into a negative cliche but without them we would have been invisible. The push back within the gay community to flamers representing us led to the understanding that if we didn’t want the world to think we were all flamers (and bless the flamers for their courage to be themselves) the pressure was now on us to come out and show the world that we weren’t all like the stereotype served up by the media. And as we came out the world came to see the wide variety of gaydom and the fact that we were everywhere and that, though they might have thought otherwise, they knew us. We were their relatives, their friends, their classmates, their co-workers, even their elected officials.
Everything that the LGBT community has achieved to date can be traced back to flamers (and the sub-category drag queens). So don’t go hating on this 15 year old. I’m 61 and wish I had his courage. He lives life on his own terms and I expect great things from him. He and his whole generation are the future my generation fought to have,
level75RDM
@craigbrew2: He’s on TV and Youtube. It’s a performance so of course he’s gonna play it up. You’re assuming he can’t fake his way through a job interview…y’know, like everybody else in the world. And you make sound like it would be a bad thing to be a career drag queen.
jwtraveler
@Alan down in Florida: You’re ABSOLUTELY RIGHT! The “flamers”, as you call them, are the ones who had the courage to fight, maybe because they couldn’t hide. Now that they’ve make the world safer and more accepting for the rest of us, the closet cases, straight-acters, and hetero-imitators say: Go away, you’re making us look bad. Wrong! They’re the ones that make it possible for you to be accepted for who you are. Honor them.
JimmyJ
Oh, dear. Atticus Bennett is back. Lord save us!
AtticusBennett
@jwtraveler: @Alan down in Florida:
indeed!
there’s a world of insecure homos who live in fear of what Straight Bigots Think, and they’re the ones coming online to anonymously vent their impotent fury over Brendan Jordan. they’re pissed because they know he’s stronger than them. it kills them that the “type of gay” that they choose to hate, right along with their crap family and straight friends, has a better and more authentic life. he doesn’t need to be anyone other than himself and he’s LOVED. while the online complainers are not loved, accepted, embraced or supported – even though they behave exactly as the bigoted bullies in their lives demand them to.
if every person making a negative comment toward brendan had to post themselves on video while saying it – there would be NO COMMENTS – simply put, the haters are too wimpy to live as freely as Brendan.
Merv
@craigbrew2: I’m not sure what kind of career you think he will be pursuing, but I doubt it involves “mainstream companies.” His personality would probably serve him well in fashion or show business, where he’s more likely to end up.
lasandman
I applaud his out there flaming personality. He might be better served however by just having an honest and heartfelt response to all the comments vs the bitchy narcissism and sarcasm.
montserrat
The face he made when he put on his pink shawl had me dying laughing. This kid is just hilarious.
jmmartin
Love it that Brendan rejects labels from the gitgo. No person is a label. Labels belong at the supermarket or any aspect of Madison Avenue. Buddhism teaches that labels and categories are “inherently hurtful.” Count Korzybski said it best: “The map is not the territory.” That is why I was thrilled when the rights movement added to its usual alphabet soup “q” as in queer: lgbtq. Yes, “queer’ is a common epithet of the hurters. But one may wear it in pride considering the dictionary definition: Different.
robho3
This kid is great. It took me 20 years to be as comfortable with myself as this kid is at 15.
jason smeds
Just because you call yourself gay, it doesn’t mean we should have to tolerate your silly behavior.
jason smeds
American Apparel is sexist and misogynistic. Why would any gay guy want to associate himself with this?
perryb
ok…but all the damn arm waving and wrist twirling and affect? jesus….thats what i hate about flaming lil fags…..and they complain about people singling them out! who wouldn’t? even gay people can’t stand that ridiculous shit
DarkZephyr
@Alan down in Florida: THAT was BEAUTIFULLY stated and brought a tear to my eye. Bravo and AMEN.
DarkZephyr
@perryb: speak for yourself. What THIS gay man can’t stand are fem-shaming douche bags like yourself. You aren’t anything special.
Paco
“Honey, we’ll talk after that Johnny Bravo haircut is removed. K?”
LOL! Awesome kid. Just awesome.
Damich
The gay community exists within effeminiate to macho. That’s how beautiful and diverse within our own community that we are. No one other community has this diversity. We also are all the colors of the world. No other community has that power either. If we are to have the world accept all of us then we need to see and accept this beauty and own it. We are highly diverse and the world is waking up to that and it should be celebrated. No matter how the universe manifests life it should be celebrated. Ashes to ashes dust to dust.
bottom72
Sweethearts, like Brendan Jordan I am a proud EFFEMINATE GAY MAN and a proud member of the gay community. So to my Butch brothers you either stand with your effeminate brothers or you stand with the homophobes.
tradskinhead808
I 100% stand proudly next to you @bottom72.
I believe the first and most effective way to combat homophobia, is to rid of that plaguing cancer within our community first. cause this “flaming-shaming” needs to endl li
Tackle
I like this kid, and I think he’s wonderful. And at his age, he can get away this type of personality, behavior, mannerisms, because it comes off as being, cute and hilarious. But what many find cute and hilarious at 15, would be considered annoying and irritating at 30…
But we all have to be ourselves. No matter what…:-)
Lvng1Tor
The kid always bugged me before but I gotta say I thought he did this well. I hope responding to hate doesn’t become his schtick though. In this day of internet insta celebs at least he’s not making a name for himself through being nasty, trashy or showcasing the worst of humanity…For all the gays who think he gives you a bad name……just STFU…he no more represents you than you represent me or I you
onthemark
@jason smeds: “Just because you call yourself gay, it doesn’t mean we should have to tolerate your silly behavior.”
Uh… yes it does, dude. We have to tolerate YOUR silly behavior, don’t we?
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
@aliengod: Go away……………
This kid has more balls than the vast majority of those who post beyond the anomoyous shield of the internets………..
Merv
@PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS: So, the kid at least three balls?
Jacob23
It doesn’t seem like authentic behavior to me. It really does come off as a performance. I doubt that it is part of his inherent nature to say “honey” in front of every sentence. So really this is more like a minstrel show and less like a kid being himself. I think he’ll look back on these vids and cringe. Anyway, it is good that he has plans for his future. Hopefully in a few years, he’ll realize that this clown act limits his social and romantic life and he’ll drop it.
@Bottom72: Your comment makes no logical sense. If, as you correctly point out, gays can be “effeminate” or “butch” then neither one is inherently linked to homosexuality. So criticizing either one wouldn’t put you in league with homophobes. BTW, I don’t think I would say that Brendan is effeminate, because he doesn’t act like any woman or girl I’ve ever met. If a 15 year old girl re-enacted his videos, using all of his gestures and mannerisms, people would think she was mentally ill.
TriForceKid1013
At 15 years old he doesn’t even have enough credentials to have “haters”. That term is so over used by people who don’t even know the real meaning of the term.
IvanPH
If a woman acts over the top, it’s perfectly fine to criticize her for being annoying. However, if a 15-year old gay boy does it, it’s homophobic to criticize him for being annoying?!
Talk about DOUBLE STANDARDS.
jason smeds
I don’t have any problem with men who act camp. In fact, it’s their right. Where I draw the line is in their claim to represent gay people. Sorry but you’re not representing anybody but yourself. That’s right, yourself. You do not represent any other gay person whatsoever.
bottom72
@Jacob23: Sweetheart the gay community is made up of a spectrum of men from very effeminate to butch. This is a reality and to ignore this fact makes no sense.
JzzE1
@JimmyJ: Apparently a lot of hateful people in this forum
JzzE1
@perryb: Players gonna play, play, play, play, play and the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate. But talk about just shaking it off… this 15 year old kid has got more courage in his cute lil spandex windowpane leggings than I’ve seen in a long time. I can’t imagine what kind of crap he had to go thru everyday in school and probably still does. But he gives the best example of being himself ever. And to those naysayers who think he’s just putting on an act, so what? It still takes a great deal of courage to “act” like he doesn’t give a damn what anyone thinks of him! And the completely irrelevant comment that he won’t be cute at 30? Well who among us is the same person we were at 15? Let the kid enjoy being 15, it will pass all too quickly. Right now he’s a beautiful princess and one day, he will mature into a great queen.
Bo Hamrk
@AtticusBennett: YES! And have you ever noticed that the shorter the comment, the more hate? It’s basically the longer postings that have intelligent thoughts put into them. I think that the biggest complainers have not come to realize and live with the fact [that they were taught] how, and who to hate by their growing environment. Love is born. Hate is processed. Ugly thoughts and speech are just…well…UGLY.
rickhfx
Be yourself, power to you.