Jameela Jamil faced backlash after being announced as the host of HBO’s new reality TV show, Legendary. The competition series centres on voguing and modern ballroom culture and is produced by the creators of Queer Eye.
Voguing came to mainstream attention via Madonna’s 1990 song and video ‘Vogue’. However, its primary practitioners are African-American and Latinx drag queens and LGBTQ+ individuals. Jamil’s appointment was scrutinised precisely because of voguing and ballroom’s deep roots in the queer community.
Watch: Ballroom culture is about so much more than voguing
Out magazine described the response to Jamil’s involvement as almost universal backlash. “[Jameela Jamil is] a woman who many do not know to be queer or trans, and who seemingly has no connection to ballroom,” wrote Out‘s Mikelle Street.
This prompted Jamil to come out as queer in a revealing tweet titled “Twitter is brutal.”
“It’s not easy within the south Asian community to be accepted, and I always answered honestly if ever straight up asked about it on Twitter,” wrote Jamil, whose father is Indian and mother Pakistani.
“But I kept it low because I was scared of the pain of being accused of performative bandwagon jumping, over something that caused me a lot of confusion, fear and turmoil when I was a kid.”
Watch: Jamil talks beauty, boyfriend and backlash
Jamil previously professed to be a “a long time fan of ballroom,” and expressed excitement at bringing “ballroom further into the mainstream where it belongs.” But her latest tweet acknowledged that being queer “doesn’t qualify [her] as ballroom.”
Jamil also clarified what her role is on Legendary. “I’m not the MC. I’m not the main host. I’m just a lead judge due to my 11 years of hosting experience, being fully impartial, a newcomer to ballroom (like much of the audience will be) and therefore a window in for people who are just discovering it now, and being a long time ally of the lgbtq community.”
https://twitter.com/jameelajamil/status/1225165342965669888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1225165342965669888&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ftv-and-radio%2F2020%2Ffeb%2F06%2Fjameela-jamil-comes-out-as-queer-following-voguing-show-backlash
