Duncan James has opened up about the hate his daughter Tianie has received on social media because he is gay.
The former singer in pop band ‘Blue’, spent the early years of his career hiding his sexuality. Duncan originally came out as bisexual in 2010 before coming out as gay in 2017.
Duncan James said that his 16 year-old daughter has been sent horrendous comments on platforms like TikTok.
He spoke to Fabulous Magazine about the frustration he feels about the “awful” people who have targetted his daughter.
“People can be quite nasty about me being gay and say quite horrible things about the fact that I’m a gay dad,” he explained.
He added: “People have written to her, saying, ‘Isn’t it disgusting your dad’s gay? How do you feel?
“‘You must be ashamed of him’, and stuff like that, and you’re just like, ‘Why are you writing to a kid saying stuff like that? Are you really crazy?’ People are just awful.”
Duncan added that he has been the recipient of a lot of online abuse since coming out.
He continued: “I’ve had quite a lot of people from other countries writing to me in disbelief that I’m gay, saying I’m going to burn in hell, it’s a sin and I’m going to be punished by God.
“I think it’s probably because they’re frightened about it or they don’t have the awareness or their religion has dictated that it’s wrong and it’s disgusting.”
While he may have received hate, Duncan received a huge amount of praise from fans and followers worldwide when he announced his relationship with Brazillian boyfriend Rodrigo Reis in 2019.
Duncan said that it took him a while to share details about his boyfriend, not because he was embarrassed or ashamed of the relationship, rather he was afraid of the response they would receive.
The photo of the couple Duncan posted gained praise from fans and followers worldwide, with many congratulating the couple while others thanked him for being so open about their relationship.
James was overjoyed and relieved by the extreme show of support online after posting the photo online saying at the time: “The positive attention it got was overwhelming. It got so much positivity from it all and I felt almost safe to do it when before I would have felt weird, just because of my own thoughts about stuff.”
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