American Idol alumnus Clay Aiken randomly brought up Shawn Mendes’ sexuality during an interview with Variety while promoting his new Christmas album.
As he began his conversation with reporter Rebecca Rubin, the 45-year-old singer asked if Mendes “came out today.”
“Did you see this video on his Instagram? I didn’t finish it because I was looking at the time and thinking, “Oh God, I have to get behind the computer.” So I don’t know if he actually did that,” the Invisible hitmaker asked Rubin.
Before completing his sentence, Aiken, who came out as gay in 2008 after years of speculation, clarified that he “shouldn’t let him out if he didn’t.”
When asked how he felt about people speculating about Mendes’ sexuality, Aiken admitted that he was surprised that people were still publicly commenting on something so invasive for the star.
“I feel like no one has speculated about shit since 2000 — since I experienced that c**p,” the father of one told the outlet. “I joke that after I came out publicly, it wasn’t a story anymore.”
American Idol alumnus Clay Aiken randomly brought up Shawn Mendes’ sexuality during an interview with Variety while promoting his new Christmas album; seen in 2021
He continued, “I don’t know of anyone who’s had press like that, like gossip stories or Diane Sawyer questions.”
Aiken theorized that public media speculation began to wane after “people got bored of it.”
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell ended in 2011 so America could treat us gays a little better,” he said. “We have pushed for our media to become more empathetic. The press can’t invade the way they used to. And that’s great.’
Aiken then acknowledged that he didn’t want to “derail” this or add to the list of people speculating about Mendes, but that “something popped up on his screen right before” they started the interview.
His comments were most likely in reference to footage shared from the intimate moment Mendes addressed his love life during his concert in Denver last month.
While addressing his fans, the artist said, “There’s something about my sexuality, and people have been talking about it for so long,” he added, saying it was “kind of silly, because I think sexuality is so beautifully complex is. and it’s so hard to just put it into boxes.’
“The real truth about my life and my sexuality is that, man, I’m figuring it out just like everyone else.”
‘It always felt like an infringement on something very personal to me. Something I was figuring out within myself, something I had yet to discover and still need to discover.’
As he kicked off his conversation with reporter, Rebecca Rubin, the 45-year-old singer who came out as gay in 2008 after years of speculation, asked if Mendes had “come out of the closet today” (seen this month)
‘And it feels very scary because we live in a society that has a lot to say about that. And I try to be very brave and allow myself to be human and feel things. And that’s all I want to say about that for now.’
Mendes also shared, “I was really young when I started. I was 15 years old. The truth is that as a 15-year-old I didn’t get to do many things and discovered parts of myself that you do at 15.”
The artist also sings about his sexuality on his new song, The Mountain.
The song’s lyrics include the line, “You can say I’m too young / You can say I’m too old / You can say I like girls or boys, whatever suits you.”
When asked what he thought of people speculating about Mendes’ sexuality, Aiken admitted he was surprised people were still publicly commenting on something so invasive for the star (pictured in January 2024).
He previously addressed speculation about his sexuality in 2018 Rolling stone interview.
“I thought, ‘You damn boys are so lucky that I’m not actually gay and I’m terrified of coming out,’” he said at the time.
‘That’s something that kills people. It’s that sensitive. Do you like the songs? Do you like me? Who cares if I’m gay?’
He also spoke about feeling pressure to be seen with women to prove he’s ‘not gay’.
‘In my heart of hearts, I feel like I need to be seen in public with someone – like a girl – to prove to people that I’m not gay. Even though I know deep in my heart that it’s not a bad thing. There’s still a part of me that thinks that. And I hate that side of me.”
In 2019, Shawn said in an interview that whispers about his sexuality were “hurtful.” The Guardian.
The superstar again addressed the ongoing rumors about his sexuality in 2020 on the Dax Shepard podcast.
His comments were most likely in reference to footage shared from the intimate moment Mendes addressed his love life during his concert in Denver last month.
“It was so frustrating for me because there were a number of people in my life that I was very close to who were gay and in the closet,” he said.
“And I felt a real anger for those people. It’s such a tricky thing. You want to say, “I’m not gay, but it would be fine if I were gay – but there’s also nothing wrong with being gay, but I’m not.” You don’t know how to respond to the situation.’
‘Everyone has called me gay since I was fifteen. I’m not gay and I’m like, “What does that mean?” I was having problems with the way my voice sounded. I say, “How should I sit?” I’m always the first to cross my legs and sit in this feminine position, and that really bothered me.”
He also outright denied that he was gay in a Snapchat message to his fans in 2016, while urging them to focus on his work.
“So normally I don’t do this and raise issues, but I was on YouTube watching some of my interviews, and I was scrolling through the comments and noticed that a lot of people were saying that I was giving them a ‘gay vibe,'” ” he said.
Although he has been the subject of wild speculation about his sexuality, Shawn has only publicly dated women, such as fellow singers Camila Cabello (seen in 2021).
‘First of all, I’m not gay. Second, it shouldn’t make any difference whether I was or not. The focus should be on the music and not on my sexuality.’
Although he has been the subject of wild speculation about his sexuality, Shawn has only publicly dated women such as fellow singers Camila Cabello and Sabrina Carpenter.
He also previously sparked romance rumors last year with his chiropractor, Dr. Jocelyne Miranda, 52, 52.
Shawn was also linked to Big Brother UK’s Charlie Travers in 2023.