When the singer came out to the world in 2008, the public didn’t react how they likely would today…
American Idol alum Clay Aiken is reflecting on the reaction to his coming out back in 2008 and the challenges he faced in his career following the revelation, noting how times have changed in the last 16 years.
Aiken rose to fame as a contestant on season two of American Idol in 2003, where he finished as runner-up to winner Ruben Studdard. After American Idol, Aiken toured across the United States and made his Broadway debut. His debut album subsequently went multi-platinum. In fact, he was the first Idol alum to debut a single at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Aiken first revealed his sexuality as a gay man five years later on the cover of People Magazine in 2008 after welcoming his son Parker in August that year.
“It was the first decision I made as a father,” Aiken explained of his decision to come out at the time. “I cannot raise a child to lie or to hide things. I wasn’t raised that way, and I’m not going to raise a child to do that.”
In a recent interview with People, Aiken reflected on how much speculation about his sexuality shaped his public persona. While coming out in 2008 brought clarity, he said it came at a cost.
“Back then it was a big deal,” Aiken said, recalling the impact it had on his Broadway run in Spamalot at the time.
“The first four months that I was in, the show was selling out, standing room only. You can actually look at the ticket sales the week after that cover came out,” he explained, referring to his 2008 People cover. “It went from selling very well to the week after the cover came out, the ticket sales dropped. Spamalot ended up closing a few months after that.”
“We are in a very different time,” he added. “I lost maybe 50 percent of the fan base.”
Despite the setbacks, Aiken said he has no regrets and is grateful the world has changed for the better.
“A lot of people who come out now end up having boosts in popularity because of it… That’s mind-blowing to me because it’s the opposite of what happened when I came out,” he said. “But it means that there’s progress and it means that as a country, we’re headed in the right direction.”
Besides music, Aiken has long-held political ambitions. He ran for office in 2014 and 2022 in North Carolina. Aiken won his Democratic primary in 2014 but lost the election to the incumbent Republican. He failed to win his primary in 2022. Last month, Aiken returned to music after almost 15 years with his new holiday-themed album, Christmas Bells Are Ringing.
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