Getty Pride parade in West Hollywood.
Sasha Allen was the first transgender contestant to make it to the top 10 on “The Voice.” Ariana Grande was also on “The Voice,” as a coach. And these two singing sensations have something else in common. They both shared social media posts in early June with a mock front page of The Sun that left many fans confused and angry.
At first glance, many fans on Instagram thought the images were of a real article from The Sun. The headline on both read, “10 Celebrities you didn’t know were gay.” However, no such article was published by The Sun. That didn’t stop a plethora of fans from taking them seriously and posting angry comments on Instagram and Twitter.
Both Allen’s and Grande’s images have the same subhead: “No one expected these stars to be a little fruity.” Both are also dated June 1, 2022, and feature the same byline: Adrianna Freedman and Zachary Zane. After that, they diverge.
Allen’s post features himself under the headline, while Grande’s post features her brother Frankie Grande.
Allen’s Instagram Post Has Caused Quite a Stir
The filtered photos and the offensive headline and subhead in a national publication probably should have been a clue that the article was fake. However, many commenters were fooled, and fuming. One Instagram fan replied, “Ummmm what?!? And ‘a little fruity.’ It’s 2022. PLUS did they not see you yell ‘trans rights!’ on national television.” Another posted, “u have to sue for defamation,” and a subsequent poster wrote, “i don’t think they watched your season of the voice.”
The reasons fans were upset varied. One declared, “What a way to say ‘happy pride month.’” Another stated, “This is kinda transphobic.” Some Instagram users were bothered by the mislabeling of Allen as gay, stating, “Jesus christ, idk where a he/him dating a woman is gay???” to which another replied, “that’s what I was thinking..this is a cute boy named Sasha dating a girl.”
Another commenter added, “Haven’t you heard? Being trans makes you automatically gay no matter what, because cishet people don’t understand that gender and sexuality are different things !!”
Grande’s Similar Twitter Post Also Has Fans Up in Arms
Ariana Grande’s Instagram Story went a step further and actually showed her brother, Frankie Grande, as No. 1 on the top 10 list, according to Pop Base and other sources on Twitter, which shared a screenshot of the post. The accompanying copy said Frankie was on “Big Brother” and that he “came out to his sister – pop star Ariana – when she was 11.”
Both of these statements are actually true. Frankie competed on the CBS reality show “Big Brother” in season 16, where he placed fifth. In addition, Attitude magazine reported that Frankie told Ariana he was gay when she was 11 years old, to which she replied, “Great, when do I get to meet your boyfriend?”
These facts did help to make the fake Sun article seem more believable. One outraged fan tweeted, “not her outing her own brother Wtf.” Another posted, “literally everyone knew” and one poster sarcastically wrote, “I didn’t know the sky is blue either.”
Frankie Grande also shared the image on Instagram on June 3 with the caption, “They didn’t??? Does this mean I can go in for straight roles now? 🤣🤣”