Khalid has just publicly shared that he is gay, but he clarified that he only chose to reveal his sexuality after being outed.
On Friday, Nov. 22, the seven-time Grammy nominee posted multiple updates on X, including one in which he stated, “I got outted and the world still continues to turn.” He then added, “Let’s get this straight (lmao) I am not ashamed of my sexuality! In reality it ain’t nobodies business! But I am okay with me 🖤 love y’all.”
Fans quickly speculated that rapper and singer Hugo Almonte was behind the outing. The 28-year-old posted a photo on X—which has since been deleted—with the 26-year-old artist less than 30 minutes before Khalid came out on social media.
Here’s what to know about Almonte and a closer look at their relationship.
Who Is Hugo Almonte?
Almonte is an openly bisexual Dominican American from New York. A social media star, he has since been working to build a career in music. In March 2023, he released his debut album, El Can Se Acabó.
On Instagram, Almonte has over 300k followers, and he also has a YouTube channel with 11,000 subscribers.
Did Almonte Out Khalid?
Almonte took to X with claims about an ex, whom he did not initially identify by name, but said, “One of your favorite gay R&B singers suck my d**k and it was really bad.”
He then claimed he dated and broke up with a “dumb a** singer” who allegedly falsely accused him of breaking into their home. “He’s ugly as f**k but he tried to set me up and lie and say I broke into his house because I broke up with him like why would I go to your house and do all that if I broke up with you dumb a**!”
Almonte followed up with a since-deleted selfie with Khalid, captioning it, “B**ch a** 🥷🏾 lied and said that I broke into his house cause I didn’t want him.”
When addressing the situation in a series of his own social media posts, Khalid mentioned that he “wasn’t hiding anything,” responding to supportive followers who noted that the revelation wasn’t all that shocking. However, Khalid emphasized that it was his decision to make and that, ultimately, it was nobody’s business.
In an email statement to Vulture, Almonte defended his actions, saying, “[It’s] really funny how it works because my intentions was never to out someone who’s clearly been out already in the community in Los Angeles.”
Almonte added that people have started to “belittle” his character and send him death threats. “All I’ve learned from this is never allow anyone to silence me, it’s crazy that these people said I was chasing clout, when I was holding onto this for five years, and I finally had enough,” he concluded. Almonte also tweeted and deleted a longer, similar statement from the Notes app, doubling down on his position. He declared, “If I had a chance to do it all over, I would do it again and again and again the same way.”