Published 14:17 IST, February 7th 2020
Jameela Jamil comes out as Queer after receiving backlash for being nominated as judge
Jameela Jamil has recently come out as queer after she received a lot of social media backlash after it was announced that she would be a judge in a contest.
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Star of the NBC comedy The Good Place, Jameela Jamil, has recently come out as queer after she received a lot of social media backlash after it was announced that she would be a judge in a TV voguing contest. She received backlash because it was believed that she was not suited to be a judge on something she does not have experience about.
Not an 'expert' in the subject matter
Voguing is a part of black and Latinx subculture of drag balls in the LGBT community. The HBO show will focus on a particular dance style that was Madonna's song Vogue and a documentary called Paris is Burning. Jamil received backlash because social media users believed that she lacked ties to the subject matter.
Jamil came out as queer through her Twitter on Wednesday and claimed that she had kept her sexuality a secret because she was scared of the pain of being accused of performative bandwagon jumping, over something that had caused her a lot of mixed and negative emotion when she was a child.
Lol.. I interviewed for this gig. As the mother of a house for nearly a decade it’s kind of kind blowing when ppl with no connection to our culture gets the gig. This is not shade towards Jameela, I love all that she stands for. If anything I question the decision makers https://t.co/kJleDihn02
— Trace Lysette (@tracelysette) February 4, 2020
She also added that her coming out as Queer does not automatically qualify her as a judge to the ballroom. Jameela Jamil claims that she has privilege and power and a large following and she hopes to use all of those to help bring the show off the ground so that marginalized stars can be elevated and given a chance.
— Jameela Jamil 🌈 (@jameelajamil) February 5, 2020
Jamil has a personal brand that hugely focuses on body positivity. In the past, she has spoken out against the Kardashians and has dubbed them "double agents for the patriarchy".
The new show which will be called Legendary will see teams compete for cash prizes and the show will air on the forthcoming HBO streaming service called HBO max.
14:17 IST, February 7th 2020