We don’t hear much from Julez Smith, the only child of Solange Knowles. But he’s been speaking out recently to address some longstanding rumors, and his fans are definitely having some discourse about it.
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For context, all the chatter stemmed from a recent livestream he did with streamer Jordyn Lucas, where he revealed that the hardest part about being himself was dealing with the “misconceptions” that come with it. When Lucas pried for further info, Smith got specific, saying he’s had to combat false perceptions about his sexuality since he was a teenager.
“People think I’m gay, you know that? You wanna know something that’s so crazy?…The first time I ever heard myself in the media, I was in seventh grade and my mom had posted this picture. I was dressed like LL Cool J [for Halloween], I had on his red jumpsuit,” Smith explained. “I’m 13 at the time, mind you I had a girlfriend at the time. I went to school and my girlfriend showed me the picture that my mom posted and it was on some media sh*t. And it was these grown ass adults calling me gay at 13 because they was saying I’m ‘pretty.’ I’m a ‘pretty boy.’”
He went on to say that as he got older and decided to pursue modeling, he went from being with women, “to now I’m gay, to now ‘I hate gay people.’” The latter comment was likely in reference to some of the backlash he received after recently hosting an event at a gay club in Atlanta, where he allegedly didn’t interact much with people or give interviews.
And while the negativity and speculation about Smith’s sexuality and whether or not he should have been hosting an event for the LGBTQ+ community as a heterosexual man were loud online, what was also loud was support for the young model and criticism of others in the community for being so quick to assume someone is gay without vetting. Some users were also puzzled as they didn’t pick up that Smith could’ve been gay in the first place.
“It’s the communities fault for always trying to make everyone. gay and going after every single man,” said one user on TikTok.
Added another: “Leave yall girl around him if yall think he’s gay. Nothing reads gay to me and I am gay.”
“Sick of our community trying to make everybody gay to be honest. It’s exhausting,” wrote another.
Others defended Smith, condemning those who would use the internet to raise speculations about his sexuality.
One user on Instagram wrote: “I think it’s awful there were adults projecting sexuality onto him or sexualizing him when he was still a child, and that’s a whole other conversation smh. In this industry however, there will always be rumours & I think every guy in the public eye has had their sexuality questioned. You have to be secure enough in who you are to not let it phase you or make you feel like you have to try hard to prove something. Being gay isn’t something to be embarrassed by or ashamed of, so it really shouldn’t matter if people think he is or not.”
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